Misfortunate Love
by Shiori07
Summary: Why, out of ALL the girls he could have fallen in love with, Kazuto had to chose the one that hated his guts? KazutoxShino AU where the death game never existed. Written using the 100 themes challenge. Mostly a collection of scenes/one-shots in an attempt to complete the challenge. Cover not mine!
1. Introduction

A/N: Hello there! Thanks for clinking this story. Just a brief setting summary, this is an AU where the death game never existed and everyone just goes to a normal high school. This will be a Kazuto/Shino love story that i will write based on the 100 themes challenge. Each chapter will either be a scene or a short one-shot that connects to the story as a whole, but may not happen consecutively one after the other. This will mostly be a pretty easygoing story with a few twists and turns that i will mostly write when i need a break from my other stories, but i should be updating frequently since the style of this is different.

I've wanted to do the 100 themes challenge for a while now, and i love this pairing, so wish me luck and please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online or any of its characters.

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**Introduction**

"On the rocks." A boy with black hair plopped down on the bar stool with a sigh.

After a few seconds, the bartender slid a glass full of a brownish liquid his way. The boy caught it in his hand, and looked down into the depths of the cup.

"This is Darjeeling tea… again."

The bartender shrugged, putting his hands up into the air innocently. "I run an honest business here, Kazuto. I can't give alcohol to minors. Anyway, it's too early and you're about to go to school."

Kazuto sighed again, briefly closing his onyx eyes as he took a sip of his drink.

"Kirito!" A man with red hair tied back with a bandana roughly sat down in the chair next to the teen and slung an arm around his shoulders. "Hey! How's it goin' man?"

Kazuto shrugged the man's arm off of him. "We're not gaming right now, Ryoutaro. Don't tell me you're drunk already."

"What? Of course not!" Ryoutaro assured him cheerily, making Kazuto seriously doubt his claims. "What's gotten you so upset today?"

"Didn't you know?" The man behind the bar asked amusedly. "Kazuto got his heart broken."

"It's not that big a deal, Agil." Kirito mumbled. "And heartbroken really isn't the best term."

"Really? Our playboy, Kazuto, got his heart broken?" Ryoutaro asked slyly. "By who?"

"I'm not a playboy!" Kazuto complained in an attempt to defend himself. It's not his fault that girls apparently fell for him left and right. After a while, the teen traced the lip of his glass with his finger. "Asuna and I broke up."

"You mean your hot girlfriend? When did that happen?"

"… Yesterday."

"Damn. I'm sorry, man." The man with the bandana tried to comfort Kazuto with a clap to his back. "That must have been rough."

The boy shrugged. "No. Not really."

"What do you mean 'not really'?"

Agil cleaned a mug with a rag as he watched Kazuto explain.

"I really did like her in the beginning. She was strong and really caring… but recently, she's gotten really clingy. She won't let me hang out anywhere without her and she's always paranoid about where I've been whenever she's not around. After a while of that, I tried to avoid her to get some space and eventually we spent less time together. Then, after school yesterday, she came up to me saying that she felt like our relationship wasn't working out anymore and suggested we just be friends."

"So you basically didn't know how to call it off and decided to wait it out until it fell apart on its own?" Ryoutaro asked. "You know, not many guys are that lucky when it comes to breaking off relationships."

Kazuto shrugged again. "I guess."

"Wait a minute!" Ryoutaro suddenly exclaimed. "That means she's single now doesn't it?

"Ryou, don't."

"Seriously, man, know your boundaries." Agil shook his head as he set his mug down and picked up another. "Going after your friend's ex will make things awkward."

Before Ryoutaro could answer, Kazuto placed his empty cup on the counter and slid off of his stool. "I better get going. How much do I owe you, Agil?"

Agil smirked. "On the house."

"Thanks." Kazuto muttered, grabbing his school bag off of the floor and slinging it over his shoulder as he made his way to the door. "See you guys later."

"See ya, Kirito." The man with the bandana briefly put his hand up in farewell.

Kazuto didn't even care that "Klein" had used his username as he exited the bar. He briefly thought about his recently ended relationship with Asuna as he shut the wooden door behind him. To be perfectly honest with himself, he felt like that relationship had ended a while ago. The spark between them had died well before Asuna finally ended it. Even though he knew that to be true, for some reason, he still felt slightly depressed about the whole thing. What had he expected? For them to be together forever and live happy lives? She was his first girlfriend for Pete's sake and he had just met her in their first year of high school. Things in real life weren't the same as they were in fairy tales.

The boy's thoughts were cut short as he suddenly was knocked off kilter. Something clipped his shoulder and soon he had spun and fallen onto the ground. His mind went hazy for a moment as he lay there on the ground. He brought his hand up to his head in an attempt to soothe the pain. When his eyes finally focused, he noticed that a black something was obscuring his view. He blinked in confusion, wondering what that thing could be. Then, he registered the weight that was pressing on him from above and realized that it was a body.

Suddenly, the black thing lifted up and the face a girl appeared. White ribbons tied her hair away from her face and black half-rimmed, oval-shaped glasses framed her angry eyes.

The girl supported herself on her hands and knees above him as she said "Hey! Watch where you're going!"

"Uh…" Kazuto didn't know what to say for a moment, all he could find himself able to do was stare into her eyes. Their exact color eluded him. They looked gray, but could also be a dark shade of brown.

The girl huffed as she sit up, using his stomach as a chair as she looked at the ground around them. Trying to distract himself from her position, Kazuto looked too, and noticed that her bag had busted open, the contents spread everywhere.

"Oh… um. Sorry about that." He apologized quickly.

"You should be." The girl huffed again angrily, getting off of him to gather her belongings. "You weren't paying attention to where you were going."

Kazuto flipped over and got on his hands and knees to help her. His eyes were narrowed slightly in annoyance. "I'm pretty sure that you're the one that ran into me." He muttered, distinctly remembering that he had just walked out of a door when she ran into him.

Immediately, she turned to glare at him.

The boy could feel sweat forming at the back of his neck. This girl was really scary. "Uh… I mean, I'm sorry. I guess I was also lost in my own thoughts, so it's partly my fault." He said, offering the books and paper that he had gathered from the floor.

Eyes still narrowed, the girl snatched her things away from him before placing them into her bag.

"…Ok. It was totally my fault." Kazuto corrected himself as he stood up. Once he was on his feet, he offered his hand to her in a gentlemanly manner. The girl just glared at him before she stood up on her own, dusting off her school uniform. Kazuto blinked when he realized that that was the girls' uniform for the school that he went to.

"Um. I'm still sorry. I'm Kazuto Kirigaya, by the way." He introduced himself, still offering out his hand.

The girl eyed him skeptically. "Who said I wanted to know your name?" She asked before turning on her heel and walking away.

Kazuto rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as he watched the girl leave. He had just thought that introducing himself to her would make up for what he apparently did wrong. Hurriedly, he scooped his stuff into his bag before slinging it back over his shoulder and hurrying down the sidewalk. He would be late for school if he stood around any longer.

A few minutes later, he finally arrived at his classroom. He placed his bag on his desk and sat down in his usual chair by the window before briefly glancing around at everybody. He saw his classmates and several other students that had wandered in from other homerooms. It took him a few seconds, but eventually, he spotted Asuna chatting amongst a group of friends. Before she could catch him looking, Kazuto turned away and instead set his gaze on the trees swaying outside his window. He really didn't want to look at her right now. At least she wasn't in his homeroom.

Awhile later, the bell rang, sending the students to their respective rooms before the teachers came in. Once Kazuto's homeroom teacher walked in, she gave a cheerful "good morning, class!" Kazuto stood up like everyone else and bowed respectfully with a greeting of their own before sitting down again.

"Well, before we get started today, I would like to introduce you to a new student that will be joining us today."

A few whispers broke out as guys wondered whether it would be a hot girl and girls wondered whether it would be a hot guy. Oh, the usual teenager talk. Kazuto on the other hand just stared around at them all uninterestedly. Is that all they could talk about?

"If you would please come in, dear?" The teacher asked, beckoning to someone outside. After a few seconds, the new student stepped inside.

Kazuto's mouth fell open when he saw who it was. It was the scary girl he had run into that morning outside of Agil's bar! He continued to stare as the girl walked up to the board and wrote her name in neat Hiragana characters before turning around to look at the class.

She bowed slightly and said. "Hello, may name is Shino Asada. It's nice to meet you." Then, she stood up straight and briefly scanned the room.

"Please give our new classmate a warm welcome everyone! Well, Asada-san, there is an open seat in the back there. Why don't you go ahead and get settled?"

As the teacher said that, the girl's eyes traveled over to the back corner seat by the window. That's when her eyes locked with Kazuto's. The boy gulped when her eyes narrowed in dislike and he realized that the seat behind him was the only one left available.

His last year of high school would be interesting to say the least.

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A/N: Please review!


	2. Complicated

A/N: So, there will not be many author's notes for this story, most likely. Right now though, i want to clear some things up that were apparently not understood or inferred already:

1) In this fic, Sword Art Online still launched, but the only difference is that Kayaba didn't turn into a sociopath and trap everyone inside where they could die. This means that everyone prior to Shino met in SAO, they just didn't have to deal with the constant fear of death. This also means that Asuna and Kirito did indeed meet in SAO, fall in love, and so on and so forth, it just happened differently. I will not really focus on that though because that is not what this story is about. You may imagine it as you will for the most part. And also, everyone plays pretty much the same games as they do in canon.

2)This is just a fic i started for fun because i love this pairing, I wanted to do the 100 themes challenge, and i just wanted to make my first high school AU fic. I really haven't written one before, so this will probably not be the best fic you have ever seen. Constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated.

3) Shino, in my opinion was perfectly in character last chapter. The premise for this fic came from the fact that Sinon practically wanted to murder Kirito when she found out he was lying about his gender. I thought this would be an interesting way for them to meet each other and then build from there. Granted, she was a bit rude in the intro, but Sinon came out mostly because Shino was having a bad day, as you will see.

All in all, i am not hating on the people that left me reviews. i admit, i was a little peeved at first (i am human after all), but after thinking about it, i know i really have no right to complain. I asked for reviews and you guys gave me exactly what i wanted. So, i would just like to say thanks. i appreciate that you took the time to review for me. And those of you who decided that this fic is worthy of following, even for just a little while, my thanks goes to you as well.

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**Complicated**

Shino stared at the boy across the room and felt her face heat up. It's him! The guy she ran into this morning! Yes, she guiltily admits to herself that it was indeed her that had caused that accident. It was just that she had been nervous about going to this new school after having bad experiences at her old one and she hadn't been paying much attention with butterflies in her stomach. And then, to make matters worse, she ended up knocking down some guy she didn't even know and landing on him in such an embarrassing position. Curse her and her flustered stupidity. As if things hadn't been bad enough, she had even acted like a total jerk to him! That was totally unlike her! If that had happened at her old school, she would have immediately and profusely apologized. Why was he different? Why did he have to be in her class?

As the bespectacled girl passed Kazuto on the way to her chair, the two of them seemed absolutely determined to avoid looking each other in the eyes. Both of them felt awkward just thinking about what had happened.

It basically went on like this for the rest of the day.

Kazuto didn't want to look at her because he didn't want to face her glare dead on. He could just feel the intensity with which she was glaring at him. He got the feeling that she was boring holes into the back of his head right now. In fact, he wouldn't have been surprised if his head was smoking.

Poor Shino was indeed staring at him, but not for the reason he thought. She was trying to plan out how she was going to apologize to him later. But she couldn't complete that plan, because once she figured she had a pretty decent layout, she remembered when she had been laying on top of him on the sidewalk and immediately felt embarrassed all over again. How could she possibly apologize for doing that and then being a jerk to him? He probably hated her by now.

As Kazuto tried to distract himself from the menacing girl behind him, he took out his notebook in preparation for taking notes. He opened it to a random page, planning on going from there to find a blank section. His pencil froze over the page when he saw what was on it.

This was definitely not his journal.

He flipped through it briefly, marveling at the contents. It appeared to be a sketchbook, now that he really looked at it. The drawings differed slightly, but for the most part, he could see a common theme. The pictures seemed to mostly consist of a gunner girl. She resembled a sniper to him and seemed pretty badass in his opinion. In each drawing, the girl had short powder blue hair and violet eyes. Her clothing consisted of green military gear and her weapons choice was a long, black sniper rifle. Kazuto leafed through the book and was a little impressed. The sketches kinda sucked near the beginning but they steadily improved as he went on. They weren't the best, but they were pretty good. He could at least tell what it was.

Kazuto absently checked the cover of the book, trying to see who it belonged to. He was not expecting to see the characters spelling out "Shino Asada" neatly written on the back inside cover.

Without really thinking about it, Kazuto turned in his seat to look at her. After a few seconds of staring, the girl looked up and Kazuto immediately turned away. He glanced through the notebook again. He must have accidentally picked it up when she forgot it this morning.

He would have to return it later.

The opportunity arose when everyone was heading home for the day. Shino was just exiting the school gates when she heard someone call out to her.

"Asada!"

She turned in confusion only to stare confusedly as she spotted a boy with short, black hair run up to her. He panted slightly as he held out a notebook.

"Here… this is yours."

Shino eyed him suspiciously before glancing down at the notebook. When she realized what it looked like, she panicked and checked her bag for her sketchbook. It wasn't there. Once she had confirmed it, she snatched the journal away from Kazuto and quickly leafed through it.

"You drew those, right?" Kazuto asked. "Cuz they're really good."

She looked up at him sharply, her cheeks reddening. "You looked in here?"

Kazuto glanced to the side guiltily. "Well, yeah—" he began, but before he could explain himself, Shino rushed off.

It was practically impossible for her to apologize now, she was far too embarrassed.

Kazuto just blinked as he watched her leave him hanging… again.

"Onii-chan?"

The boy turned around toward the voice. "Oh, Sugu. Hey. Ready to go home?"

Suguha Kirigaya nodded hesitantly, looking down the sidewalk behind him. "Yeah… who was that?"

Kazuto shrugged. "A new girl in my class."

Suguha's eyebrows furrowed. "She ran off pretty quickly. How do you guys know each other? Are you friends?"

Kazuto briefly glanced behind him, but Shino was already long gone. "Uh… well." He wasn't really sure how to put that. Just what exactly was the relationship between him and a girl he found intriguing while, at the same time, he knew that she hated his guts?

In the end, the poor boy just slumped his shoulders when he failed to find a plausible answer.

"It's complicated."

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A/N: I read through my notes at the top several times, trying to be as unoffensive as possible. I really just needed to say those things for the sake of the future of this fic. Even so, i apologize if I offended anyone. It was not my intention.

Just remember that i love you guys (and i mean all of you) and you make me want to write so much! Keep being awesome :)


	3. Making History

**Making History**

The only thing that Kazuto and Shino had to say for themselves was one, simple word:

Why?

Their classmates, on the other hand, seemed to be dealing with the situation quite well. Everyone had gathered around in pairs or groups of three, talking animatedly about what was to come. They chatted and joked with each other like old friends, which they probably were. Some of them had pulled out textbooks to look through while others had paper and pencil to write notes. The atmosphere was generally light and carefree in the classroom that day.

Except for the back corner by the window.

Kazuto was sitting backwards in his chair, his head resting on his arms.

Shino sat normally in her chair. Her legs were crossed and she was awkwardly drumming her pencil on her wooden desk, creating a hollow "thunk" with each tap.

The two teens avoided each other's gaze awkwardly, desperately trying to come up with a way to make this situation less awkward.

Why, out of _all _the people in the room, did the teacher have to pair _them _together?

Nothing else seemed to share their pain though. The other students seemed to be content enough with the situation. Even nature was defying them. The sky outside was blue with a few fluffy cumulous clouds here and there, and since it was spring, the cherry blossoms were budding, painting the scene outside the window a flowery shade of pink.

Yep. Just your usual pain-filled day.

After what seemed like a _long _and _intense _silence, Kazuto finally struck up the nerve to speak.

He hurriedly cleared his throat before saying "So… about this project thing… What do you want to do?"

"You mean other than what the teacher told us to do?"

Kazuto groaned inwardly. Why was she so mean to him? "Uh, yeah." There was another pause. "Hm. So, the assignment is to create our own Greek city-state with all the characteristics of an actual city-state back in Ancient times."

"Yeah…"

The boy briefly turned around in his chair to snatch a piece of paper off of his desk. "So we have certain parameters." He said, showing her the rubric. "Mostly, we just have to state what religion the city worshipped, what kind of government it had, describe the daily life of its citizens, and then make a scale model. There's a bunch of other stuff on here too, but they're basically subcategories of what I just said."

"Hm…"

Kazuto had a hard time carrying on this conversation alone. He briefly glanced at the time on his phone before coming up with a half-conceived plan of action.

"We don't have that much time left in this period to really get started, so how about we divide up the tasks starting with the parameters? I take one half and you take the other."

Shino glanced through the grading rubric. His plan sounded fair to her. There was an even number of requirements and they seemed pretty simple once everything was organized. This was the best way to get started without too much drama. "Sounds fine to me." She shrugged.

"Class, you need to finish up so we can move on to lecture." The teacher called out over the din.

As Kazuto and Shino went to work choosing which parameters they would get, Kazuto tried to keep the conversation going before it got awkward again.

"So whose house are we going to?"

Shino looked up at him and Kazuto froze when he realized that what he had said sounded weird.

"Uh, I meant about the project so we can build the model, not… anything else."

Shino considered him for a second, trying to figure out whether he had meant his statement in a perverted way. When she deemed that he was clean, she answered.

"Wouldn't working at school afterhours be easier?"

Kazuto considered that for a second. "No. Then we wouldn't have anywhere to keep the model. It would be safer at someone's house."

Shino nodded in understanding. She tried to decide whether or not she wanted to go to either Kazuto's house or hers for the project. Then again, maybe his was best. She lived alone after all, and she _did not _want to be in her small apartment alone with him. She wouldn't be able to think clearly if she were alone in her house with a boy she barely knew.

But first she had to make sure that his house was ok.

"Who would be at your house if we went?"

At first, Kazuto thought that was an odd question, but after thinking about it for a second, he understood. She probably just wanted to make sure that no one shady would be there.

The boy shrugged. "Just my sister, and she probably won't get in the way. Maybe you met her, she goes to school here."

"Really?" Shino asked, interested. She wondered what kind of sister he had.

Suddenly, the teacher called for everyone to find their seats.

Kazuto stood up so he could sit correctly. "When should we meet? Is Saturday good?"

"Yeah. That sounds fine."

"Great. Where do you want me to pick you up?"

Shino contemplated his question for a second. "At the school gates is fine. Around 13:00?"

Kazuto nodded, a small smile had crept its way onto his face. "Cool. It's a date." Shino's cheeks reddened a little, but he missed it as he sat back down, feeling pretty good.

He had just had a successful conversation with the girl who hated him. They had had a complete, normal conversation with him only screwing it up maybe once. That was not a small feat considering he was the loner-type that barely talked to anyone. And best of all, she didn't just walk off while he was saying something. For the past couple weeks, they had had a habit of having rare but awkward conversations that usually ended when Shino escaped him. This time was definitely different. Maybe their "relationship" was finally turning around.

If he didn't know any better, he'd say that they were making history.

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A/N: Just so you know, history isn't necessarily found in a textbook. Everyone has their own personal history. And it goes a lot deeper than just events :)

That made sense right? I just know that the majority of the time, the way i approach these prompts will stretch out the meaning a bit but art can be figurative right? You know what? I'm insane, so most of the time, these stories will only make sense to me, myself, and I. At least i tried!


	4. Rivalry

**Rivalry**

"Sugu, I'm home!" Kazuto called out, slipping his shoes off by the door.

Shino glanced around for a moment before shutting the door behind her. So this was his house huh? It looked pretty nice. The floor was covered in mahogany-colored wooden planks that shined slightly, almost like they had just been cleaned. The walls complimented that with their creamy white color that just made the room seem even brighter. Shino could also glimpse the simple, black furniture in the living room from where she was standing. All of it had a nice, cozy effect.

As the bespectacled girl began to slip off her shoes as well, a set of footsteps could be heard pounding down the wooden staircase to the left. Soon, a girl wearing a black skirt and a white button-up arrived at the bottom of the steps. As soon as Shino saw her, she could see the resemblance she had with her older brother. They had the same facial structure and hair color. Suguha Kirigaya had short, black hair that was held back by two silver clips on each side. Her eyes were almost the same color as her brother's, but Shino saw that hers were of a subtly lighter shade.

The younger girl walked over to the two by the door with a cheery smile on her face. "Hi, you must be Asada-senpai. Am I right?"

"Uh, yeah." Shino answered. "I'm Shino Asada, nice to meet you. You're Suguha Kirigaya."

The younger girl nodded in affirmation before Kazuto spoke up.

"Geez, Sugu. I come home and all you have to say is 'hello' to our guest and not your own brother? I'm hurt." The boy smirked teasingly.

Suguha scoffed, though she had a smile of her own on her face. "I see you every day, Onii-chan. It's no big deal. Besides, you were only gone for half an hour."

"Well what if I decided to never come back?"

"Well you're here now aren't you?" Suguha countered. Before Kazuto could say anything more, she moved toward the kitchen, her hands innocently clasped behind her back. "I should probably leave you guys alone now so you can do that project you told me about. It was nice to meet you, senpai!"

It was quiet between the two at the door long after Suguha disappeared through the doorframe.

"Your sister seems nice." Shino commented absently.

"Yep." Kazuto answered, briefly acknowledging in his brain his belief that his sister was better than he deserved.

"Far from you though."

The dark-haired boy blinked as he turned to look at his classmate, briefly wondering if she could read minds. "What?"

As Shino stepped into the hallway, she answered him. "She was kind enough to greet me when we first met. You, on the other hand, ran me over."

"That's not how it happened." The boy muttered to himself before following after her.

They obviously still hadn't cleared the air between them yet, and the long, silent walk on the way to the Kirigaya house hadn't helped at all. It had been uncomfortably silent, and neither of them had directly looked at each other the whole time.

Once in the living room, it didn't take the two of them long to start sorting out the different aspects of their awesome Greek city-state, Spathí.

But it wasn't the smoothest of conversations.

"It should be Athena."

Kazuto blinked at the girl sitting at the table across from him. "Why?"

They were on the subject of what religion their city-state supposedly worshipped. It obviously had to be Greek-mythology-based, but they were mostly trying to decide which god Spathí worshipped in particular.

Shino glared at him from her seat on the floor. "Because she is the goddess of war and strategy. She would be perfect for our project. Spathí is largely military-based."

Onyx eyes blinked again as it was silent for a few beats. "But Spathí is on an island in the middle of the ocean. Poseidon would make more sense."

"Athena would be better."

Kazuto had to hold back a sigh. She seemed pretty adamant about this. "But Athena can't do much. She can't move the ocean at her will or cause earthquakes."

Shino impatiently hit the table with her palm, making Kazuto jump. "Poseidon's a bull-headed god that only cares about the amount of power he has and how many women he can seduce."

Kazuto's eyebrows furrowed slightly. She was definitely exaggerating, but there was something she was neglecting to mention. "Didn't your goddess turn a woman into a spider just because she was furious that a human was better than her at weaving?"

The boy instantly regretted saying anything because Shino's anger flared even more.

"Arachne was arrogant and overstepped her bounds! She deserved what she got." She crossed her arms and Kazuto could feel a drop of sweat forming at the back of his neck. "Besides, how does Poseidon make more sense than Athena? You named the city Spartí, as in a sword."

The boy blinked, realizing that he hadn't thought of that. He had just chosen the name he had because, frankly, he just liked swords. He decided to drop this little argument and concede defeat though, because otherwise, he knew that they would get nowhere if it continued.

"…Fine. We can use Athena."

The bespectacled girl stood up in triumph. "Now that we've settled that, let's start building the model."

Kazuto watched her go into the kitchen toward the dining table were Suguha had helped him lay out materials to build with. Shino really was scary.

Soon after, Kazuto had taken to cut a large circle out of a piece cardboard with a box cutter. They needed it as a decent sized base to build their city on, which was about as big around as the coffee table was wide. They began to build their little city-state, not really saying much to each other. Each of them sort of just took upon themselves tasks that needed to be done without out the real need to discuss it.

A few minutes in, that was obviously a mistake.

"What are you doing, Kirigaya?"

Kazuto blinked in confusion before looking at one of the many buildings he was making out of construction paper. "Making a house."

Shino turned away from the mountain that she was making out of papier-mâché. "Those buildings look like they were thrown together. They don't even look Greek, they look Roman."

The boy's dark eyes looked down at his small group of artworks. He really had no idea what she was talking about.

Shino seemed to read his thoughts in his expression because she explained in exasperation. "The Greeks focused more on columns."

"…This isn't an art project, Asada. I don't think we'll get points docked for this."

"Yeah, we will! Because you can't even make a simple building!"

Kazuto felt anger begin to bubble up inside of him. "They look fine to me."

The girl suddenly reached her hand out. "Give me that, I'll fix it."

The boy pulled his precious work of art away from her clutches. "I said it's fine."

A vein pulsed in the girl's temple. "Just hand it over."

"Why should I?"

"Because I said so!"

_Rip._

The two of them froze, looking down at the base that would hold Spartí. The two of them hadn't exactly been staying still when they started fighting over Kazuto's poor little houses, and in the end, Kazuto accidently put his elbow through Shino's mountain.

It was silent for a few seconds as all they did was stare.

"Look what you did!"

Kazuto whipped his head around to look at the girl seething in front of him. "Me? This was your fault too you know!"

Shino just shook her head. "It doesn't really matter anyway. Your work was bad already."

Kazuto really had no idea what that had to do with what just happened. "So you think you can do better?"

The girl looked at him sharply. "As a matter of fact, I think I can!" She said before plopping down and grabbing paper and scissors.

Her partner sat down next to her and angrily grabbed paper and scissors of his own. He was so determined to prove her wrong.

From the hallway, Suguha was leaning against the wall next to the entryway to the living room. She had a small smile on her face as she listened to her brother bicker with his classmate. It was actually really entertaining to witness. They were fighting over the pettiest topic she had ever heard someone fight over.

The young girl peeked around the corner to discreetly watch as Shino and Kazuto continued to quarrel. She was happy to see that he looked livelier than usual today. She could tell that he was still a little downtrodden by his recent break-up with Asuna, and she didn't blame him. They had seemed happy together before. But looking at him now as he competed with this new girl, he seemed like the normal brother that she knew and loved.

Suguha continued to smile as she walked down the hall before she was noticed.

It looked like a little rivalry was good for him.

And oh how it was just beginning.


	5. Unbreakable

**Unbreakable**

"You need to apologize."

Kazuto stared blankly at the bespectacled girl for a second. The two of them were in their classroom at the end of the week, ready for a relaxing weekend. Supposedly. They had just gotten some graded papers back and the atmosphere surrounding the back corner by the window was tense at best.

Finally, after a few blank stares, Kazuto spoke.

"It wasn't just my fault you know."

Shino sat back in her desk chair with a huff, her arms crossed. "It _is _your fault. I told you that your buildings would make us fail."

The dark-haired teen was turned around in his seat to look at the paper sitting on Shino's desk. On that paper, was the grading rubric for their history project. Several checkmarks were scattered throughout some boxes, and at the bottom of the document was their final percentage: 72.

Kazuto had been expecting a bad grade, but he was still a little surprised to see it officially on paper. Not that a 72 was completely terrible, at least they had passed, but still, the boy was pretty sure that if he had been with any other partner (or at least on his own) he would have gotten a full 100%.

Why did they get a C- you ask? Well everything had been fine for the most part. Their short report had been ok and their presentation wasn't half bad, the only thing that was the problem was their model. The two teens had worked on it for days until it had been finally due on Wednesday.

It had been in absolutely no condition to turn in.

When the two of them brought it in, people had already gawked at how thrown together it had looked. It had resembled an island that had gone through an earthquake. Their so-called "buildings" were smashed and crumpled, their "mountain" looked like it was melting, and their base was lumpy and heavy due to the fact that there had been several layers of green and brown paint applied to it.

By the time the two of them realized that the project was due the next day, there was no time to fix it or start from scratch. They had to turn _something _into their teacher.

To make matters worse, the whole thing fell apart just as they were presenting it.

…So much for teamwork.

Shino stared at her partner with a cold glare that sent shivers down his spine. "Apologize."

Kazuto swallowed nervously, but he would not let himself be intimidated by this girl, not like last time. "No. You're the one that insisted that I kept doing everything wrong."

"That's because you were."

"Everything was perfectly fine! It wasn't an art project! Nothing had to be perfect to the last detail!"

"But Greek culture is specific in its architectural details!"

Kazuto sighed. "I still don't see how what I made was different from what you made."

Shino felt a bit insulted by this. "How can you say that? They were completely different!" Kazuto just eyed her skeptically and Shino fumed more. "Fine, you know what? I don't even care anymore! I'm just glad this partnership is over!"

The dark-haired boy didn't know why, but he felt unusually irritated. "Me too." He grumbled before turning back around to face the front. There was absolutely no way he was apologizing to her. She was the one that insisted that everything be a certain way. It really didn't matter in his opinion, so long as they finished and met the requirements he was good. Besides, his work had been perfectly fine until Shino touched it.

In the corner, Shino was fuming just as much as the boy in front of her was. There was absolutely no way she was apologizing to him now. Now she was certain that she had been in the right when she had been a jerk to him that time on the sidewalk. He was a jerk himself! He wouldn't just admit that this had been his fault! If she had been with someone else, she was sure that she would have gotten an A+ for sure. He was absolutely unbelievable.

But then again… why was this petty situation bothering these two so much?

Apparently, that didn't matter though, because it was official:

Their resolve to show up one another was unbreakable.

Their hate was mutual.

Let the loving relationship begin…


	6. Obsession

**Obsession**

A certain bespectacled girl with thin, black hair lay on her back on her bed, staring listlessly at the white ceiling of her apartment.

Today was Saturday, a long awaited day off from school. Shino was glad for it, she just felt like life at her new school was a bit draining. Not that she was complaining, she definitely preferred this school to her old one, it's just that one person in particular drove her crazy: Kazuto Kirigaya.

Shino instantly grew irritated at the thought of her classmate. She had been trying to have a nice, relaxing day. Her clothes were proof of that, as she had chosen them more for function than style (an oversized, pale violet sweater and black shorts). But apparently, her efforts to unwind were fruitless, because now that she had thought his name, an angry monologue raced through her mind.

He was such a jerk! It's like she couldn't win with him. Whenever the school day would start and both of them would sit down in their usual desks, they had this weird routine of giving each other death glares before Kazuto would sit down in his desk, his back to her. From then on, they would either keep silent the whole day or start an argument, and whenever there was an argument there would never _ever _be a clear winner, because in the end they would get so angry that they would eventually go back to the silent treatment again. Why couldn't he ever just concede defeat? Why was it that she always had to be wrong? She certainly knew that he was never right himself! He was human.

And what was with him and his little harem? Scratch that, it wasn't little at all. It hadn't taken Shino long to realize that practically every girl in the school had a crush on him to some degree. What did those girls see in him anyway? And why was it that he was polite to _them _and treated _them _nicely? It really ticked Shino off whenever she would see girls either crowd his desk or ambush him in the hallway and strike up a conversation with him while they had these stupid, dreamy looks in their eyes. It ticked her off even more when he smiled like some charming prince and spoke to them briefly before walking away and brushing it off like it was nothing. What's with that? Why that phony façade? It was obviously a mask, she could see right through it. She saw through it on a daily basis as a matter-of-fact. He was nice to other people, but when he turned on, her the smile was gone and he glared at her with those eyes.

_Dammit, those eyes! _Those black voids that pierced into her with such intensity! It just riled her up even more!

The girl turned over on her side and grabbed her pillow from behind her head to squeeze it tightly, as if she could relieve her anger that way.

His eyes. They were so unnerving…and yet, strangely familiar. Shino had the odd feeling that she _knew _those eyes from somewhere, and that thought made her angrier.

Shino let out a huff, continuing to hug her pillow as she turned to lay on her back. Why was she thinking about him right now? She had planned on relaxing today and just playing Gun Gale Online, where it was like she was in her element, and Kazuto Kirigaya definitely _did not_ need to be there.

With a resigned sigh, the ebony-haired girl firmly placed her pillow back behind her head and put her glasses on the shelf at her headboard. She needed to stop this and log-in, there was no way she would not be logging in today. She had a gig in an hour and she was getting paid a lot of credits when it was over.

The girl grabbed her AmuSphere and slipped it onto her head, staring through the glass visor for a few seconds until finally saying "Link Start."

With a flash of colors and her usual log-in routine, Shino now stood in the world known as Gun Gale Online. She glanced around at her surroundings, remembering that she had checked into an inn last time she was here. After a few seconds, Shino opened her item storage and got to work, changing from her casual wear into her usual green military combat gear. Before she left for her job, she made sure to look into the mirror on the wall. Pride welled up inside of her at the sight of the person standing in her place. There, with powder blue hair and violet eyes, stood the ever-strong sniper, Sinon.

There stood her idol.

Before long, Sinon was out the door, and making her way to the spot where she would meet up with her temporary squadron. It was a routine gathering, so Sinon didn't really pay attention as the others collaborated and straightened out last minute details. Instead, Sinon pulled her gun from her back and sat it between her legs, admiring it. She really thought it was amazing that she could look at it, hold it, and not have a mental breakdown.

Finally, the action began, and Sinon went to a nearby abandoned skyscraper and got into position. Her job was simple really; take out as many hostiles as she could at the most opportune and strategic moment. The usual. If they succeeded in taking out the enemy, she would receive a handsome percentage of the spoils.

As Sinon watched the enemy march across the desert through her scope, she eyed them warily, waiting for the right moment to pull the trigger. This was what she loved about this game. This is what she admired so much about her alter ego. Here, in this world, she was cool, calm, and collected. Nothing could get the best of her here.

And then she saw something through her scope that immediately threw that thought out the window.

Down on the ground, she saw someone among her targets. He was a young guy with short, jet black hair.

Without even thinking, Sinon aimed at his forehead and pulled the trigger. A red hole appeared where she had aimed and soon, the guy dissipated. Soon, everyone on the ground was scrambling as they tried to take out whoever had opened fire on them. But in the end, that was pointless. Sinon was shooting so fist, that by the time her prey saw the red prediction line aiming at them, Sinon pulled the trigger, wiping them out.

For some reason, thoughts of _him _invaded her mind. She didn't even know why. The first guy she saw hadn't even really resembled him all that much. But seeing him made her anger return, and now she imagined that every one of her targets was him as she unleashed her wrath.

Within the span of fifteen seconds, Sinon wiped out the enemy single-handedly.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the popular game known as Alfheim Online, a certain party of four was passing through Sylph territory, and they have just run across a hostile group of Salamanders.

The group of four was composed of all different races. There was a Gnome, another Salamander, a Sylph, and a Spriggan. The Gnome wielded a large ax while the other three brandished swords of some kind.

Each group stared each other down, ready for a fight.

They were about to spring into action when the Spriggan lunged forward with a hasty growl of "I got this."

His three companions stared, dumbfounded, as their comrade swung his large, black sword and engaged the enemy on his own, six to one. The hostile Salamanders attempted to get around him and go after his party, but the Spriggan angrily whipped his sword around and knocked them back into his range. His current style of fighting was reminiscent of a beast or some form of monster as he ferociously ripped through the players unfortunate enough to have his blade aimed at them.

The Salamander, who resembled a samurai, inched over to the Sylph next to him and asked form the corner of his mouth "Uh, Leafa, I know that Kirito tends to play solo, but this seems a little over the top. What's going on with him?"

The blonde sighed, her eyes trained on the Spriggan as he reduced three of the Salamanders to red flame with a violent slash. "I think that school is getting to him."

"What could possibly go on at school to get him _this _riled up?" The large Gnome asked.

Leafa just shrugged in response, not really wanting to divulge her brother's personal information without his permission, especially while they were online. She knew that Klein and Agil were just concerned, but she didn't want to offend her brother.

She had noticed recently that Kazuto came home agitated just about every day. It would seem like he was angry about something, but whenever she would ask him about it, he would just say that he was fine with a smile that was obviously forced.

A small smile off her own appeared on the girl's face as a thought struck her though.

His moodiness had started up soon after he had brought Shino Asada home for that project

* * *

A/N: I know this was a bit late, i had trouble deciding how to tackle this prompt. I had a few ideas, but it took me a while to come up with one that i was happy with. Well, the next one should be up within the next twenty-four hours, so look forward to it.


	7. Eternity

**Eternity**

_Stop. Please make it stop._

Shino stared, wide-eyed and frozen, from her seat in the back of the room. She couldn't move, she couldn't think, she couldn't speak, she could only look on as a sudden fear gripped her heart, strangling her chest and rendering her helpless.

Why? Why did they have to do this to her? Why did they have to do this _in front _of her? Didn't they know what it did to her? What it caused? Didn't they know that it caused the pain?

The girl sat, stiff and rigid, watching as two boys in her class were pretending to have a gun fight. It was stupid, and they were just messing around, pointing finger guns at each other. But to Shino, it was as real as anything she had ever experienced. Her dark eyes were glued to their hands as they shot imaginary bullets at each other, attempting to dodge.

One of the guys shot his buddy. He didn't move fast enough and was shot in the chest. He clutched his heart overdramatically and fell over onto the ground.

They laughed, but all Shino wanted to do was curl up into a corner.

All she could see was blood.

So much blood…

In a flash, she was up and out the door. She rushed down the hallway in a daze, trying to find a place of solace, of safety. She needed somewhere quiet and empty, somewhere she could let everything out.

Without realizing it, she had gravitated toward the stairs and burst through the door at the top. She realized that her lungs were on fire as she began to gulp down air. She breathed heavily, unevenly, her entire body shaking. The air refused to cooperate with her lungs. It was like all the oxygen had gone.

She felt like she was drowning.

Her knees could barely keep her upright any longer. She felt weak and stumbled into the wall. She couldn't stand anymore, she couldn't _do this _anymore, and slowly slid down and onto the cold, hard concrete.

She couldn't see. Her eyes, her vision…nothing made sense anymore. All she could see was red. That color. That heinous color. Why did it haunt her so? Why couldn't it just leave her alone?

Why did it exist?

Her knees were drawn to her chest now and her palms were pressed against the side of her head. Images were flashing before her eyes. She tried to block it, but then it was clearer behind the darkness of her eyelids.

Was this really how it was going to be for the rest of her life? It had certainly been like this for as long as she could remember. The constant pain. The constant fear. The images. The visions. The memories.

Red.

It was everywhere, _all the time. _Wherever she looked, it was there. No matter where she turned or where she ran, it was there. It was there in her dreams. It was there when she was awake. No matter how much time distanced her from it, it still showed up as a constant reminder of her hatred for herself.

But she was the only one.

No one else could see it. No one else understood. It haunted her and her alone. People thought she was crazy. People thought she was _insane. _But they didn't understand, they could _never _understand. They couldn't see it, never saw it. How could they ever understand something they had never seen?

She was alone, plagued by her past.

No one could help her. No one could _save her._ It was impossible for her to ever be rid of it because _no one understood. _She's been trying. She's been trying for _so long _to fix it herself, but it _isn't working. _Everything she tries fails and she is back to where she started. She's given up now. There was no hope of her ever healing, being normal.

Always. It's _always_ been like this.

And apparently, it always will be.

* * *

A/N: I know that this chapter is kind of short, intense, and depressing...but don't worry, this isn't the end.


	8. Gateway

A/N: I really should be working on my other projects...

* * *

**Gateway**

Kazuto stared at what was happening in the center of the classroom with a blank look on his face. Why were these guys doing this again? He vaguely remembered them talking about a movie or something. Were they reenacting a scene?

The teen leaned his chin into his hand as his classmates continued their finger-gunfight, turning his head to stare out the window. The sky was overcast today, adding a grayish tinge to the world. It wouldn't be surprising if it rained soon.

The boy continued to stare aimlessly, his mind wandering to random things.

Suddenly, a loud noise caught his attention, it sounded like a chair scraping against the floor. Kazuto whipped his head around in surprise. The first thing he noticed, was the empty chair behind him. Then, he heard the door into the classroom slide open. His eyes slid toward it, and he looked just in time to see Shino Asada rush out of the classroom.

He froze for a second, unsure of what he had seen.

Shino…she had looked afraid.

Her eyes had been wide, her pupils were dilated, and once she had turned to go down the hallway, she had roughly bumped her shoulder into the doorframe. She hadn't seemed fazed as she disappeared, leaving the door wide open.

Kazuto shook his head, his hand going up to his temple.

No. That didn't look like the intimidating, scary girl that he had come to know. She couldn't have been _afraid, _he was probably just imagining things. She probably just had to go to the bathroom and rushed out. Yeah, that was it.

Kazuto looked out the window again, trying to fixate his mind on something else, something more realistic. He tried focusing on the weather again, really just anything, but for some reason, his mind kept drifting back to the girl that usually sat behind him.

Finally, he stood up, his efforts utterly leading to nothing. He was too bothered by what he saw to just let it slide.

Maybe he should just check on her.

Trying to not rouse any suspicion, Kazuto walked to the door and slipped out into the hallway. As he quietly shut the door behind him, he glanced around at the empty space around him before heading in the direction of the nearest bathroom. She was probably in there. He would just lean against the door to listen for anyone inside, and if he did hear someone, he would just wait outside to see if she came out alright. Yeah. That was a good plan. But she should be fine anyway, right?

As the dark-haired boy reached the bathrooms, he stopped for a second, noticing something odd. Just to the left of the bathrooms, was the door leading to the staircase.

And it was hanging open.

Kazuto found that a little weird. Normally, those doors would either be all the way open or completely shut, never in between. But really, how much of a difference was that? Just _slightly _open? Was that really worth looking into?

Without consciously coming to the decision of checking it out, Kazuto walked forward and opened the door, allowing himself to slip inside before shutting it behind him.

A quick peek wouldn't hurt.

Onyx eyes glanced to either side of him, trying to decide whether to go upstairs or down. He decided up first, since the roof would be quicker to check. He held onto the railing with each step he took, looking up to the next landing as he went.

As he reached the door leading onto the roof, Kazuto's eyebrows furrowed once he realized that this door was halfway open as well. He slowly pushed it open and stepped onto the roof.

Looking around, the boy didn't notice anything completely out of the ordinary. The roof was off-limits, so no one was really supposed to be up here. But that was why he visited it so often. It looked just how he had expected it to: the wire fence around the edges, the generators and vents scattered here and there in the corners, but other than that, the place was pretty empty.

"Hey. Anyone up here?" Kazuto called out, but not much louder than his inside voice. He glanced around, again, not seeing anything. He walked around in a quick circle, trying to see if he could notice anything from a different angle. Finally, just as he was about to leave, he glanced at the small alcove between the staircase and fence.

He was shocked to find that someone was _actually _there.

And it was none other than Shino Asada.

Kazuto froze up for a second, seeing her there like that. She looked like she was in pain, curled up in the fetal position with her back against the wall. She had her palms tightly pressed against her temples, as if she were trying to block out pain. Her body was shaking and her eyes were wide and unseeing as they stared at her knees.

What…happened?

Bringing himself back into the present, Kazuto hurriedly knelt down next to her, taking her by the shoulders.

"Asada! Hey, Asada!"

She didn't answer.

He shook her slightly, his heart clenching in his chest. "Asada!"

And then, she looked up at him, her eyes wavering as she put her hands down ever so slightly. Kazuto let out a small breath, relieved that she was at least responsive.

Apparently, his relief came a little too soon.

Before he knew it, his back slammed into the diamond-patterned wiring of the fence. A gasp escaped him, and his eyes briefly shut due to the unexpected flash of pain. When he opened them again, he was stunned to find himself once again staring into intense grayish-brown eyes. Shino's face was right up to his now, and she was kneeling over him, her hands fisted in his shirt.

Her eyes were wild as she addressed him. "Why?"

The boy stared in confusion. "Wha—?"

She got closer to him, her fists clenching tighter. "Why? Why you? Why of _all people _did _you _have to find me this way?"

"I-I—"

"Do you think this is funny? Do you think that you can just take advantage of me in my weakest state? Is this a joke to you?"

"No. I—"

"Then what? Why are you here? You just think that I'm crazy now don't you? You've probably known it all this time and now you're happy that you found proof!"

"Asada…"

She roughly shoved him into the fence. "No! Don't you dare! Don't you _dare _talk to me! I hate you! Did you know that? I really freaking _hate _you!" She shook him some more, but Kazuto was too stunned to react. "How? How do you do it? How can you act so _normal _yet piss me off with every little thing that you do? What do you know about _anything?"_

Tears began to well in her eyes as she continued. "And how can you just _sit there? _Why don't you try to push me away, or tell me that I'm insane and that I need professional help? Where's the _fear?"_

It was quiet for a long moment, as the two of them searched each other's eyes.

"…It's because I'm not afraid."

Those words felt like a blow to Shino's chest as she just stared at him.

Kazuto's face remained calm as he continued. "And I don't think that you're insane either."

There was another long pause as they stared at each other. Shino's eyes were wide while Kazuto remained calm, looking evenly passed those oval-shaped glasses and into that girl's eyes.

Finally, she gave a laugh. A laugh devoid of humor.

"That's impossible. You probably _do _hate me. You're just too afraid to admit it."

The girl's body slumped slightly, and she leaned into Kazuto's chest. She suddenly felt drained, she just didn't have the strength to quarrel with him right now.

"I know that I'm supposed to hate you, but let me lean on you, just for a little bit." As she finished speaking, she let her head fall against his chest. Her eyes closed from exhaustion, but she didn't fall asleep. She really hated him. Why did he have to find her _now_ of all times, _him_ of all people. And what was with this crap of not fearing her? Everyone else felt that way, why didn't he just admit he felt the same?

On top of that, one thought surfaced that annoyed her to no end:

_Why is he so warm?_

Kazuto stared down at her for a second, her ebony hair catching his attention as the wind softly blew it across his neck. Hesitantly, his hand lifted and hovered for a few seconds over her back. The boy inwardly struggled with himself, wanting to comfort the girl that was obviously suffering in front of him, but doubting that he was the one that she wanted comfort from. In the end, his hand went back to settle on the concrete beside them. It clenched into a fist as his anger with himself flared in his chest.

Knowing that this was no time to be kicking himself, Kazuto took a deep breath and relaxed his body instead, trying not to disturb the girl that may or may not be asleep.

His head went to lean back against the wiring behind him and his onyx eyes flicked to look up at the sky. The world was still gray, and the normally vibrant blue sky was still overcast, but his earlier prediction had failed to come true.

Looks like it didn't rain after all.


	9. Death

A/N: I believe that this chapter needs a little explaining. The beginning of this is going to resemble my Kirinon fic "In Darkness We Fall" mostly because I've had this idea in my head for a while and i wanted to figure out how to do this chapter without actual character death. I might actually use something similar to this in my other story at some point. Maybe.

I feel like the themes are a bit mixed up, but whatever, i'm trying to work with it. It just keeps things interesting for me.

Basically, in my other story, Kirito and Sinon are partners as "assassins" and work to "make the world a better place."

I feel so shallow right now, like I'm self-advertising. But hey, if you are interested in that story after reading this, go ahead and check it out, it's my most popular SAO story so far :)

* * *

**Death**

_A figure clad in black stood amongst the pile of rubble, his long coat whipping around him and his sword tip touching the ground. He attempted to steady his breathing as his stood there, knowing that this was one of those rare moments when he could actually catch his breath._

_It felt like he's been fighting for an eternity. Night after night, day after day, for hours on end, he's only known the constant swing of his sword and the blood of his enemies as it spattered his clothes and the ground around him. _

_So much blood._

_But he is resolute. He _knows _that all of this bloodshed isn't for nothing. He _knows _that there is a purpose for this. There's a _reason_ why he's been doing this for so long._

_And that reason was the only thing that kept him going._

_A sudden explosion behind him caught the swordsman's attention. He glanced behind him, in the direction the sound had come from. In the distance, a large cloud of dust and smoke rose up from the street._

_His heart seemed to drop out of his stomach. _

_No. It couldn't be. If his sense of direction was as spot-on as he feared it was, then in that area was where…_

_The swordsman immediately dashed in that direction, his heart racing to painful speeds. There was no way. There was no way in the _world _that she was dead. They promised. They promised to get through this together. That was the _only way _that they would get through it. How could she do this_ _to him?_

_How could she leave him all alone?_

_Several enemies tried to interfere with his personal mission, attempting to shoot him down or run him through, but the figure in black just cut them down without batting an eye. There was no way _in hell _they were going to stop him. Not as long as he could still move even a finger._

_He would get there even if he had to drag himself through the pits of hell._

_In a matter of minutes, the swordsman arrived at his destination. His throat closed up painfully when he saw the wreckage that used to be an office building._

_No._

_He slowly made his way to the wreckage, wanting to search it but afraid of what he might find at the same time. He inched closer, not even realizing that he was holding his breath in apprehension._

_Then, a shock of powder blue caught his eye._

_He stared at it for what felt like a millennium, his mind suddenly blank as he stared at that familiar shade of blue._

_A volley of shots brought him back to reality. They sounded close. Quickly, he rushed over to the patch of vibrant color amongst blackness of their godforsaken world and knelt down next to it. He barely glanced at the debris around it before beginning to claw it away with his bare hands. He didn't even notice the deep scratches that appeared on his hands as he worked, his mind working in a frantic overload. _

_As soon as he uncovered the torso of a girl dressed in green military gear, the swordsman lifted the girl's head by putting one arm around her shoulders and the other hand under her neck to support her. His heart pounded in his chest as he glanced her over, painfully registering how broken her body was._

_He called her name-__to make her wake up, to speak,_ something_-but his blood was pulsing so loudly in his ears, he couldn't even hear himself think._

_The girl didn't stir._

_He called her again, more desperately this time._

_She did not reply._

_Tears were welling up in his eyes now. He was screaming, screaming her name to the sky, to the nonexistent heavens, to the depths of hell itself, but she never answered him. She just laid in his arms, limp and devoid of life._

_She couldn't be dead. She couldn't be. She was the only thing that tied him to this place, to _life. _She was the only thing he ever truly cared about. No one else mattered. The _world _didn't matter. _She _was his world. She was his _everything. _How was he supposed to go on knowing that the only thing he ever smiled for had disappeared from his life?_

_He vaguely registered that soldiers were surrounding him now, pointing their guns at him and telling him that it was all over. Surrender or be put down._

_His face hardened, his dark bangs hanging over his eyes as anger flared up inside of him. He gently laid the girl down on the ground. _

_Surrender? It was too late for that now. There would be nothing to live for if he surrendered. Now all he felt was a burning hatred for the scumbags around him._

_They _took her away from him_. How _dare_ they take her! Those monsters had no right to take something so pure and beautiful from this black void they call life. He wanted them dead. He wanted to slaughter them all. He wanted to make them pay for taking her, for _killing_ her._

_He wanted them all to scream in agony as he drove the light from their eyes._

_A hand touched his shoulder, and it was like a bomb went off._

_The swordsman sprung up, spinning with his sword tip in the air and ripping his assailant's body in two._

_The others immediately opened fire, most bullets missed, but some entered the swordsman's body._

_One. Two. Three._

_He didn't even register the pain. Red tinted his vision as he cut down as many of them as he could, his anger driving him beyond his ethics and common sense as he pushed on._

_Four. Five._

_There was blood on the ground now. So much of it._

_Six. Seven. Eight._

_As suddenly as it had come, the anger left him, and the swordsman stood there, his sword arm going limp. He suddenly realized it was pointless. There was nothing left to drive him anymore, nothing left to fuel his will to fight, to live._

_Nothing mattered anymore._

_That's when the bullets ripped his body apart._

* * *

Kazuto woke up in a cold-sweat, his hands fisted tightly in his blanket. His breathing was in short gasps and his heartbeat was pumping out of control. He stared up at the ceiling in his room, the images from his dream replaying in his head.

He sat up, slowly, his heart and breathing beginning to slow as he began to focus on controlling the air that entered and exited his lungs.

That dream. That girl. It had seemed so real.

He brought his knee up and rested his forehead against it, trying to calm the sudden wave of emotions that flooded through him. Fear, anger, despair, they all shrouded his senses in a torrent of pain.

What was with that dream? And who was that girl? As he thought back on it, he couldn't remember her name, or what they were doing on a battlefield, but he knew that he had been fighting thinking only of her.

But why? Why did her death bother him so much? Who was she? She must have been pretty important for him to suddenly breakdown like that.

Just who was she to_ him?_

He took several shaky breaths before he registered the cold air through his sweat-soaked clothes. His dark eyes glanced up at the clock on his wall, and he noticed that it was 5:21. A sigh escaped him as he swung his legs onto the floor and stood up. There was no point trying to go back to sleep now. He would have to shower and start cooking breakfast before Sugu got up and they had to go to school.

Now that he thought about her, Kazuto had the sudden urge to check on his sister. The boy went to his door, exiting his room and going out into the hallway. He walked over to the door next to his and knocked quietly.

"Sugu, you awake?" He whispered through the wood. When there was no answer, he cracked the door open and peeked in.

It only took a second for him to locate his sister's form on the bed. When at first, he didn't see her move, he panicked for a second, but as he stared for a bit longer, Kazuto saw her breathing and relaxed.

That stupid dream had gotten him paranoid. Now he was thinking about death.

Death was a scary thing.

Kazuto shook his head slightly, trying to rid his mind of those thoughts as he watched his sister fondly. His mind wandered to her after a while. His sister really was something. Well, she wasn't really his sister, she was his cousin, and in actuality, he was living in his aunt's house.

His train of thought was suddenly interrupted when he noticed that Suguha was tossing and turning in her sleep.

Slightly alarmed, Kazuto fully entered the room and made his way over to the bed. His heart clenched at the sight of her, her eyebrows were scrunched in fear and her fists were holding her sheets in a death grip.

Was it a coincidence that they both had nightmares on the same night?

Kazuto sat down on the edge of her bed, saddened and slightly shocked that his sister still had nightmares. He thought she had stopped having them a long time ago, when she had finally stopped sneaking into his room at night, crying. But then again, maybe she just stopped seeking comfort from him, not wanting to bother him anymore.

In an effort to calm her down, Kazuto began to stroke her hair. It seemed to work as she steadily began to settle down.

Even though she was his cousin, he still loved her like his sister. He had lived believing that she was his sister for so long, it didn't really matter that he knew the truth. He still saw her as his kid sister.

But she didn't know the truth, he knew that for a fact, yet that didn't really bother him either. It was probably better that she still thought of him as her big brother. He didn't want things to get awkward between them.

Suguha began to stir, and her eyes opened blearily to reveal her brother looking down at her.

"Onii-chan?"

Kazuto smiled. "It's ok, Sugu. You were just having a nightmare. Go back to sleep."

Suguha was too tired to argue, she just nodded and gave a hum in affirmation before taking his hand from her hair and holding it to her cheek. Within minutes, she had fallen asleep again.

The smile faded from her brother's face as he looked down at her. Why hadn't she told him? He just wanted to help her. He knew how rough her dreams could be, and he just wanted to help her get through them like he used to. Like he still tried to.

For some reason, he remembered Shino Asada and the sudden "episode" on the roof of the school yesterday. He remembered how frightened she had looked, and how she had been convinced that he would hate her.

What if _she _died?

That thought sent a sick feeling through Kazuto's stomach, but he didn't know why. Maybe it was because of what he had witnessed. He had begun to understand now, why Shino seemed to avoid other people. She talked to them, sure, but the majority of the time, he saw her keeping to herself. He used to think nothing of it, but now, he thought she looked sad, alone.

When Kazuto was sure that his sister was fast asleep, he slipped his hand away as gently as possible before sneaking out of her room and into the hallway.

He knew what that was like: to be alone. It can seem like the best course of action at first, but later on, you realize that all it's doing is hurting you and those around you. Loneliness isn't just physical, it's emotional as well, and emotions can hurt. A lot.

Kazuto entered the bathroom, shedding his sweaty clothes and dropping them onto the floor.

Loneliness was a _feeling._ A very strong feeling that someone felt when they believed that they didn't have anyone to love them or they that it would be better if they stayed away from others. It was the feeling that you didn't matter, didn't belong, and without knowing that there _was_ a place where you fit in, a person could slowly slip away.

Loneliness was the slow and painful death of a person's very _being._

Feeling alone _hurt,_ and if it was intense enough...it was the worst kind of pain anyone could ever feel.

The boy turned on the shower and waited for the water to heat up before stepping in. He relished in the burning sensation that enveloped his body as the hot water flowed over his skin. It may have been a bit scalding, but it felt good compared to the chill he had been feeling earlier.

Shino was lonely, and deserved someone that could help her through whatever it was she was going through.

It was then that Kazuto decided that he would help Shino, even if she hated him even more for it.

* * *

A/N: If you haven't noticed by now, I'm better at writing adventure/drama than normal, day-to-day life.

Anyway, about Sugu. I wanted to make her kind of important, mostly because I like her as more of a sister figure than another member of Kirito's "harem." So no, i am not intending to make Suguha Shino's "competition" or anything. I enjoy good sibling relationships in stories, i just like the idea that people can really connect to each other on a close level without being "romantically involved."

In answer to a guest review: Yes, we are assuming that Shino did indeed skip a grade. As for Death Gun, I don't think that he will appear mostly because SAO (as in the death game) did not exist to drive people insane to the point where they would kill people just for the sake of it. Shinkawa (Kyouji) may appear later though. I'm thinking about it.


	10. Opportunities

A/N: Wow. i never expected for my chapters to get this long in this story. I bet you guys are happy though.

* * *

**Opportunities**

Shino stared hard at the two hands clasped tightly on her desk.

It was two days after her little "episode," and she had finally decided that she could return to school. She had taken a day off mostly to gather her nerves together and recuperate (the more intense panic attacks always left her worn out). But mostly, the girl knew that she was using those as excuses in the end. There was really one, main reason why she had skipped school:

She was a coward.

The girl slumped, making her head rest against her folded arms. She knew that she had mostly stayed home from school because of one Kazuto Kirigaya. Her cheeks just heated up at the thought of him. She had done it. Again. She had done something embarrassing and now she couldn't even bring herself to confront him.

Shino felt ashamed of herself. She had let Kazuto see a side of her that she wished didn't even exist. He had seen her in her weakest state. Then, she had almost throttled him.

But the most confusing part was when she had used him as a comfort...

He was the arrogant idiot, the one she hated most, yet she had somehow found herself going to him for comfort. How did that make sense? She had been screaming at him moments before laying her head down on his chest. She was probably driving him insane by now as he tried to figure out what her deal was. He probably hated her even more now.

Wait a minute. Why did she care if he hated her or not? She hated him anyway! It didn't make a difference whether he hated her or not, she didn't even like him to begin with.

_It's because I'm not afraid._

Shino shook her head. His words had been coming back to her since he had said them. But why? She had said it herself, he was probably lying.

And what did his words matter? She _hated _him!

_And I don't think that you're insane either._

The scraping of a chair against the floor caught the girl's attention. She looked up on instinct, being pulled out of her thoughts, and her eyes met with a pair of intense, black ones.

Kazuto stood next to his chair, his hand resting on the back as he looked at the girl who sat behind him. Shino just looked up at him as well, trying keep her face as emotionless as his. His face, it just made her frustrated. What exactly was he thinking?

The two of them stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, trying to read each other.

Finally, Kazuto gave her a small smile.

Shino stared, her eyes wide. He was _smiling _at her?

"Hey, Asada." Kazuto said, raising his hand in a sort of greeting.

The girl continue to study him, trying to decipher whether or not he was being genuine. His gaze just held hers steadily.

"…Hi, Kirigaya." She finally replied, her tone soft.

He continued to smile as he sat down in his chair, but Shino couldn't really see if he continued to after he faced the front.

It was an unusually quiet day between the two of them after that. They didn't go through their usual banter or death glare competition, but instead, it was as if they had never hated each other in their lives. It was almost unnerving.

Finally, at lunchtime, progress was made.

The bell had just rung, and Shino had just taken out her lunchbox when per usual, a crowd of girls swarmed Kazuto's desk. The girl sitting behind him just stared for a second, blinked, and finally rolled her eyes before going back to her lunch.

She _really _hated him.

Her dark eyes went down to focus on the chopsticks in her hand as she picked up some rice. Her lunch that day consisted of rolled omelets and an assortment of vegetables. She was actually pretty proud of it. After she had moved to Tokyo, she had had to learn how to cook her own meals.

As Shino began to eat, a nagging feeling crept up inside of her. She ignored it at first, putting all of her attention on her food. But after a while of having the feeling _grow, _she finally looked around warily. She scanned the room starting at her right. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary…

That is until she caught sight of Kazuto.

Through the wall of girls, Shino caught a glimpse of a certain dark-haired, dark-eyed boy. He was just staring at her, and Shino wondered how long he had been doing that for. But that's not what really caught her attention. His eyes, they were slightly wide and a sheepish smile had crept itself onto his face.

Did he look…uncomfortable?

Shino just looked at him, trying to understand. Kazuto's eyes flicked to the girls around him to emphasize his message: _Help me._

He was asking her for help getting away from girls? What kind of guy does that? Don't guys usually _want _girls to fawn over them?

Then, a girl shifted over and Shino lost sight of him. The bespectacled girl just stared blankly before focusing back on her food again with an angry determination.

No. Why should she help him? She was supposed to hate him! He was the one that wouldn't back down no matter what! It drove her insane, why couldn't he just concede defeat?

_It's because I'm not afraid._

Shino stood up, slamming her chopsticks down in irritation. Walking around her desk, the girl made her way to Kazuto's. She pushed her way through a few bodies before she was finally able to see him again. Surprised, the group fell silent, wondering what the new student wanted there.

Kazuto on the other hand, looked up at her hopefully, but he kept his face as clear of emotion as he could. He just wanted to know if she had come to save him or condemn him.

"…Kirigaya. We need to talk." Shino said in a demanding tone.

"Uh, ok." The boy was able to stutter before his wrist was encased in a death grip. Then, he was unceremoniously yanked out of his chair and dragged across the room. Shino was in front of him, pulling him out of the classroom. The door slid shut loudly behind them, and they were suddenly alone in the hallway.

The two of them just stood there for a moment, Kazuto eyeing the girl in front of him curiously as she just avoided his gaze.

"…So—"

Shino looked at him sharply and Kazuto swallowed. He was really hoping that she wasn't going to yell at him or anything.

"Um—"

"I'm sorry."

Kazuto blinked. "What?"

Shino sighed, attempting to look him in the eyes as she continued. "I'm sorry…I think we got off on the wrong foot." Her face reddened. "Can we just put everything behind us and start over? I feel like you deserve that…"

The boy in front of her blinked again, not really sure if he heard her right. After a few seconds of silence, a small smile came onto his face in understanding.

"Sure. I'd like that." Shino's eyes widened as he held his hand out to her. "Hey, I'm Kazuto Kirigaya. It's nice to meet you."

It took her a second, but Shino slowly lifted her hand and placed it in his. "Shino Asada. Likewise."

They shook in greeting before parting a little awkwardly.

"So…I'll see you in class then?"

Shino nodded. "Yeah." She turned to the door of the classroom, her hand resting on the handle. She paused before opening it, and instead, turned to face Kazuto. "And, Kirigaya?"

"Yeah?"

Her dark eyes averted from his gaze (his eyes were seriously unnerving). "…Thanks."

With that one, quiet word, Shino Asada slipped into the classroom.

Kazuto stood outside the room for a few minutes, for some reason, his dream came back to him.

_That girl…she had been in Asada's journal._

The boy just stood there, wondering at the significance.

* * *

Later that day, after school, Kazuto was laying on his bed, staring up at his ceiling in contemplation.

_That had taken forever, _he thought to himself. It had barely been two months since he had first met Shino Asada, and they were now just starting to act like normal, civilized people. It had felt like longer than just two months to him though. Despite that, he was kind of relieved, especially after witnessing her breakdown. Having this new development in their relationship would make it easier to help her.

With a sigh and a slight smile on his face, Kazuto reached beside him and took his NerveGear into his hands. He eyed it for a few seconds, just looking at it, before finally placing it on his head.

Normally, at this time of day, he would be diving into ALO. Today, however, was a different story. His recent dream had become a sort of obsession to him, and all he could think about was the girl he had found in that building, broken and lifeless. She seemed to haunt him whenever he least expected it. At first, he had tried to pass it off as his dream making him paranoid, but in the end, all he could think about was _her_. He didn't know her name, or who she was, yet he still felt _connected _to her somehow. She felt _important _and he wanted to know why.

That was why he was going into another game today.

After thinking and thinking about his dream, he realized that it resembled a cyber-type game he knew about: Gun Gale Online. He had the urge to go there for some reason, and couldn't bring himself to ignore it. He just felt like he had to go, or else he would regret it.

"Link Start."

With those words, he entered into the online world. It didn't take him long to log-in to his account, and soon, he was standing in the plaza of a large, metal city. That was really all he could say to describe it. All of the buildings, even the sky, were a dark gray, and the air reeked of oil.

Kirito now stared around in wonder, marveling at the entirely different world he had come across. It was a whole other reality, a whole other story.

There was the opportunity to start a new life here.

The boy looked down at his hands. No matter how many times he dived, the feeling that everything was real amazed him.

Something dark fell into his line of sight, and Kirito glanced at it. He was confused as he stared at it.

It was a lock of dark hair.

His hand reached up to touch it, and he felt it between his thumb and forefinger.

He had long hair?

Kirito turned around, not fully understanding, even when he saw his reflection in the glass of the building behind him.

"…Hm?"

Kirito placed his hands on the glass and leaned forward, not sure what to think. In the glass, he could see himself, yet he didn't want to believe that was him. He was wearing a white tunic and black pants (seemingly normal), but the weird part was his long dark hair and the soft features of his face. He stared into his dark eyes for a long moment.

"…WHAT?!" His voice reverberated against the iron of the buildings as he questioned his appearance. He just stared, his mouth agape and his eyes wide.

_Why did he look like a girl? Did something go wrong and he was changed into a girl?_

In a panic, Kirito puts his hands to his chest. After a few seconds of not finding anything unusual, Kirito sighed in relief. His eyes narrowed as they went back up to stare at his image. He really wasn't happy about it. He would have to find a way to change it somehow.

But that would have to come later.

That was when he embarked on his journey to start his life in GGO. He had to figure out what weapons and equipment to buy and where. As he walked through the streets, the hopeful feeling in his chest slowly turned to that of embarrassment. Wherever he went, players (all guys) would cat call or wolf whistle, "complimenting" him.

He _really _needed to change his avatar.

After a while of this though, Kirito got lost, and found himself at a fork in the road…street.

He just sighed. "Everything here looks the same to me."

Suddenly, a shock of powder blue appeared in his peripheral vision.

His heart leaping, Kirito's head snapped up to stare at a girl, _the girl _from his dream and from Shino Asada's sketchbook. What were the odds?

Without really thinking about it, Kirito rushed up to her.

"Excuse me!"

The girl stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him. Kirito froze for a second as well, her indigo eyes seeming to entrap him. Why did they look so familiar?

"…Can I help you?"

"Um…" Kirito was speechless for a second. All he could think about was her eyes. They held a certain intensity to them, one that he found intimidating…and a little scary.

Wait a minute. Could this girl be Shino?

The girl did a quick once-over of his attire. "Is it your first time in this game?" A gentle smile came onto her face and Kirito found himself freaking out inside.

_She probably thinks I'm a girl!_

Then, a weird, yet intriguing thought came to him: What if she's just nicer to girls?

He looked her over briefly, finding himself wanting to find out. He wanted to know more about this girl.

It took Kirito a second to psych himself up for his big moment.

Then, in the cutest and most innocent way he could muster, Kirito put his cheek into his hand.

"Yep. This is my first time here. I'm practically lost."

The girl nodded. "That's understandable. These streets look the same if you haven't traveled on them before." She glanced at a nearby clock. "Well, I'm not doing anything right now. Would you like some help?"

So maybe she _was _nicer to girls.

"You would really do that for me?"

There was another nod. "Sure. There aren't that many female players in this game anyways, we should help each other out, y'know?"

"That's awfully nice of you." Kirito gushed, though inside he was a little afraid of himself. Maybe he was spending too much time with the girls in ALO.

He smiled sweetly, wondering if this could really be Shino. "I should introduce myself. I'm Kirito, by the way."

"Kirito? That's an unusual name." The girl mused, but she smiled nonetheless. "I'm Sinon. Nice to meet you."

_Sinon, huh? This was definitely her._


	11. 33 Percent

A/N: Hey. I know. It's been a while. I needed to work on my other projects, and then there's school, and really, what the heck does 33% mean? So enigmatic. I had a hard time figuring out what to write for this chapter, so writer's block also contributes. But at least i was able to get something. Probably isn't the best, but whatever, there are still literally 89 more chapters for me to make it up. Anyway, enjoy, and i want to also give thanks to my good friend Maria Penner for giving me some ideas. That helped a lot.

* * *

**33%**

Kazuto wasn't sure if he fully understood Shino. He really was doubting it. He knew her in two different worlds as two different people: Shino Asada in the real world and Sinon the sniper in GGO. In some ways, however, these two could easily be seen as the same person.

As Shino Asada, she was the quiet one that kept to herself. She was course, hard to approach, and just downright mysterious. It was difficult to see, but Kazuto could tell she was hurting. It was blatantly obvious since that day on the roof that something was haunting her. For how long, he wasn't sure. Maybe her whole life.

Sinon was the badass sniper who went off alone unless she was offered a job. She was calm and always kept her cool in the worst of situations. With her skill and reputation, she seemed intimidating, but was actually pretty nice and liked to help people. She was strong, and seemed to only want to get stronger.

Kazuto had to admire her though, both a Sinon and Shino Asada. It may be more obvious with Sinon, but Shino was a strong person. In the real world, Shino was able to keep whatever was haunting her to herself, and she was doing a pretty good job. She was hiding it, handling it on her own, and then building her strength in GGO.

But it was almost as if she wasn't trying as hard in the real world as she was in GGO.

In the real world, she was giving maybe 33% of her effort. Most of the time, she seemed to just be _enduring _it and not _dealing _with it. She was just closing herself off, barely even trying to open up to anyone. At least she was better about it since she and Kazuto had talked. Now, she was nicer around him.

Then, in GGO, Shino seemed to give everything her all. She would come up with a battle plan and then stick with it until she either died or won out. It was just a game, a game with a currency system, but even so, she took it seriously and lived it to the fullest. But even then, she seemed to close herself off ever so slightly… maybe 33%.

Building strength to get over a trauma was not a bad idea. But doing it alone was.

She seemed to be pretty fond of Kirito though… as a girl. They hung out a lot, and Sinon seemed to talk with her new friend more than anyone else. Kazuto felt a little guilty about leading her to believe that he was a girl, but it was too late to introduce himself correctly now, and anyway he didn't know how to break it to her. That doesn't exactly come up in a conversation.

_Oh and by the way, I'm actually a guy!_

Kazuto could not imagine himself surviving that. Sinon, and Shino for that matter, was far too intimidating to have him think otherwise.

For instance, just recently, they had worked a job together where they had been hired to take out a squadron of other players. Kirito had been doing pretty well. He wasn't dead for one thing, and that was good considering he had only recently joined GGO. He learned how to play pretty quickly as well, which he took some pride in since he practically grew up on videogames. He had done a little too well, in fact, taking out the majority of the targets on his own by using a light sword in a firearms-dominant reality.

He had just finished the last one, flourishing his weapon before putting it behind his back out of habit.

He just stood there for a second, as if he were waiting. "…Not again." He sighed, before turning off his weapon and clipping it to his belt. He really wasn't used to having to turn your sword _off._

The boy stretched, trying to remember where Sinon had been the last time he saw her. He turned around and faced the skyscraper in the distance. After looking at it for a second, he paused, his eyes squinting as he noticed that there was still gunfire going on. The weird thing was that it was being directed at the building. He looked up into the many broken windows and just caught sight of a shock of powder blue.

Sinon was up there, sniping what looked to be a guy with a minigun.

Suddenly, Sinon _jumped out of the skyscraper, got her leg shot off, and shot her enemy at point blank range from the air. _After all of that seeming to go by in slow motion, the sniper hit the ground and rolled, landing on her hands and knee with her gun under her. To top it all off, her opponent exploded right behind her.

Kirito's eyes widened at the sight, and he just stood there, watching.

_Badass to the core._

The boy gulped nervously. Sinon wasn't just scary, she was _powerful_, and that got him thinking:

_What are the chances of my survival when she finds out who I am?_

…Not even 33%.

* * *

A/N: Heh. Also a little attempted humor... Which probably sucked too. Anyway, the next chapter should be up sooner. Please review!


	12. Dead Wrong

A/N: Ok, so to answer a review that i forgot to answer last chapter, yes, other characters will make appearances every now and then, but they will not show up all the time.

* * *

**Dead Wrong**

Kirito and Sinon stood back to back, breathing heavily as they brandished their weapons at their opponents. This wasn't supposed to happen. The pair of them had just wanted to do some mild training for a change, but on their way back, they had been ambushed by another squadron. Well, they _were _two of the most powerful players in GGO. They had built up quite a reputation of taking out other players on multiple occasions.

And they had made plenty of enemies along the way.

Kirito glared at the players in front of him, his photon sword humming in the air between them. In his head, he was trying to come up with a strategy to get out of this mess alive, but was having trouble coming up with anything. These people had come out of nowhere, with numbers and firepower in such strength that a lone swordsman and a sniper couldn't handle in a clean fight.

The feeling of Sinon's back against his also got him thinking in overdrive. He had to come up with some way to save her. He didn't really care if this was a virtual reality, he still considered life here precious. Sinon lived her life here just the way he had been doing for the past seven years, with every fiber of her being, and there was no way he was going to let it slip by so easily.

There had to be a way.

The swordsman thought all of this within the span of a few seconds as the two opposing sides glared at each other, murderous intent clearly visible in their eyes. Just before Kirito acted upon the plan he had in mind, he felt something hit his shoe. Glancing down, his blood ran cold when he saw several grenades roll passed his boot. Suddenly, Sinon grabbed him by the shoulders and before he knew what was happening, she threw them down the hill.

The explosives went off seconds later. The uneven terrain protected them from the brunt of the explosion, but the sheer force of it still hit them, causing them to lose their already unstable footing and tumble down.

Instinctively, Kirito grabbed Sinon and hugged her body against his own, protecting her as they rolled down the steep hill. There were rocks here and there, and several times the two of them collided with them, sending them into the air before thudding down again.

It didn't take long for Kirito to notice the cliff that they were speeding towards. He felt his heart lurch when he saw the gaping chasm that was stretched before them.

But he would not die. Not now.

Taking the sword that he still clutched in his hand (and had somehow turned off after their little escapade), Kirito rammed the metal handle into the earth beneath him. The terrain had become rockier along this area, and he was hoping his weapon would catch on something other than loose sand. Luckily, it did, and his sword stopped them from rolling. Clinging on for dear life, Kirito prayed that his little trick would also prevent them from tumbling into the dark void toward their deaths.

They reached the edge with the speed of a car on the highway, and Kirito knew that they wouldn't make it.

And then, his sword got caught by a large rock, jerking them to a sudden halt.

Feeling that they were not currently falling through the air, Kirito turned his head and slowly opened his eyes. His head had just barely gone over the edge, and he could see the looming darkness below him.

Sinon lifted her head from where it lay in the crook of Kirito's neck and looked down to see their almost demise.

"That went smoother than I thought it would."

Kirito looked up at her, and his dark eyes met her indigo ones. "…You dropped those bombs."

A slight smirk pulled at Sinon's lips. "Well _someone _had to get us out of there."

Slowly, Kirito smirked too. That was just like Sinon.

Feeling her body shift, Kirito become overly aware of how her body was practically on top of his and the fact that he was still holding her tightly against him with his arm around her waist. Quickly, he let go, realizing that Sinon wanted to get up. She shifted to do so, and moved to get off of him. She looked down for a moment, not really realizing what she was doing, when she suddenly froze and studied him, her eyebrows furrowing in slight confusion.

The girl shifted her weight, basically straddling him with one of her legs on either side of him and soon, she put her palms flat on his chest.

_What is she doing? _Kirito thought, his eyes wide and his cheeks burning slightly. He was so distracted by her position that he didn't realize until too late what she was actually doing.

With her hands, Sinon patted Kirito's chest a few times, trying to feel for something. At first, it was hard to notice with the gear he was wearing, but now that she was up close, it was easy to tell. She couldn't really believe what she was feeling, though. His chest was hard and flat, with hardly any give that a _girl _usually had. She knew that there were flat-chested girls, she wasn't really big in that department either, but a girl could not be this…flat.

After a few seconds of patting, Sinon looked up to see Kirito's dark eyes looking into hers. She froze for a second at their intensity as they seemed to warily search her face for a reaction. Eventually, the girl leaned forward and looked directly into those dark voids. She searched them in return, trying to find something to reassure her that what she was thinking was wrong, but all she saw, was something that just screamed…

"Male."

Kirito's heart seemed to drop into his stomach. "What?"

"You're a guy." The sniper's face had a blank look, her eyes were the same. She stood up and stepped over him so that she was on one side of him, and reached her hand out to him. Hesitantly, he took it, and she pulled him to his feet.

"Um—"

"Well? Are you?"

Kirito just looked at her for a while, unnerved by her lack of emotion. Well, he _had_ wanted a way to break the truth to her. It was now or never right? She already pretty much figured it out.

"Yeah…about that—"

"So you lied to me." A shadow seemed to fall over her face, and Kirito felt a chill in the air.

The boy blinked as he suddenly felt nothing but air around him. It was almost as if nothing happened…except for the fact that he was falling through open space.

Sinon stood up on the cliff, listening to him scream in surprise before he shattered in midair.

So she had been wrong about his gender.

He had been right, he didn't survive.

And now? He had died, and Sinon would probably try to kill him again.

* * *

A/N: Ha. That kinda made sense right? He's dead and she was wrong... yeah. She pushed him off the cliff.


	13. Running Away

A/N: Ok. So to answer some questions: no, the Death Gun incident will not happen in this fic. I have made that decision because SAO did not exist to turn people into homicidal maniacs. But just so you know, this fic won't be all "puppies and unicorns" to quote my 7th and 8th grade English teacher. She was awesome btw.

* * *

**Running away**

An expanse of black surrounded the swordsman as he stood there, too shocked to move. A large notification appeared in front of him, a spiraling circle with a countdown inside. The caption above read 're-spawn in,' but Kirito wasn't really paying attention. All he could think was:

_She killed me._

His eyes grew wide. Sinon had _killed_ him. And without any hesitation. She had pushed him off that cliff and had just watched in silence as he fell to his death. She wasn't just powerful, she was ruthless.

Kirito began to pace, his hand on his chin as he strode back and forth, his coat swaying behind him around his ankles. He would re-spawn soon, and it would be right back out into that desert, the desert he knew where Sinon was waiting for him. They had been traveling across that desert just before they had been ambushed, so their re-spawning point was out there, not exactly near the cliff, but close enough so that Sinon would be there within a few minutes if she ran.

The boy stopped pacing so that he faced the countdown. Ten seconds left. He could make it. He knew he could. To log-out, he would need to go into town and book a room at an inn or something. That way, his avatar would have a safe place stay. But he would need to do that without running into Sinon along the way.

With a flash of white light, Kirito disappeared from that dark room and appeared in the middle of the dessert once again. He glanced around warily, taking in the familiar sight of the ruins of a building. This was the checkpoint he and Sinon had reached. These ruins were the only things visible for miles.

Kirito unclipped his sword and flipped its switch. The blade hummed to life as he also drew out his handgun. He knew that Sinon would probably be hunting him by now, and he wanted to avoid as much confrontation as possible.

With great speed, he shot out into the dessert, consulting his map along the way. He had to get to the nearest city.

Something glinted in his peripheral vision. Realizing what it was, Kirito dove forward. An explosion of dust and sand billowed behind him as he rolled. With an expert twist of his body, the swordsman turned in midair and landed on his feet. He skidded backwards and few meters, causing more sand to drift up into the air.

Kirito's dark eyes shot up, anticipating the next bullet. A red light blinded him for a few seconds, and he rolled to the side out of the way. The projectile plunged into the sand next to him. Following the angle of the shot, Kirito saw a large rock formation not too far away. It was the perfect vantage point for a sniper.

_Looks like I'll have to fight her, _Kirito thought as he sped forward in the direction the shots had come from. He was basically a sitting duck if he stayed out in the middle of the dessert without taking care of Sinon. Eventually, she would get in a shot. That, or they would be out there all day with him dodging her every bullet.

Sinon attempted to shoot him several more times with her Hecate II, but he saw the prediction line and either dodged the bullets and sliced them away with his blade. Within seconds, he was up the hill and could see where she was laying on her stomach, her rifle in her arms. Before he could start toward her, she pulled out her submachine pistol and began to fire at him. Charging toward her, he deflected those as well.

Sinon rolled away from him, and when she got to her feet again, he could see the fury in her eyes. He could see her anger, the fire in her irises. She was glaring daggers at him as the two of them stood facing each other.

But he would not be intimidated, not here, not now. He stared at her evenly, meeting her gaze head on. There would be no running away. He had to face her, whether he wanted to or not. If he ran away, he wouldn't forgive himself. If he didn't try to resolve this problem, then there would be a chance that she would never even want to _see _him again.

He had to do this, or he would lose her in this world.

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A/N: Next chapter will continue this but from Shino's point of view! So look forward to it and sorry for the cliffhanger... Yeah. Not really :)


	14. Judgement

A/N: Wow. This is getting to be more popular than my other Kirinon fic. I am quite surprised. Thanks for all the support guys! I love you and I'm sorry that this one took me a while. My last day of school is tomorrow so i should be able to update my stuff more often :)

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**Judgement**

The desert seemed empty and lifeless, almost eerily so in the fading afternoon light. The sun was lowering in its wide arc across the sky, making its way toward the horizon. Wind whipped across the landscape, whistling as it blew sand in sweeping billows across the ground. The cloud of course earth continued to roil until it tumbled off the rocks and into a dark, endless chasm.

A certain sniper stood at the edge of that chasm, her powder-blue hair tousled by the wind, her indigo eyes staring down into the large, black void below her. Her mind was blank, clear of any thoughts or emotions whatsoever. The recent shock she had just had, left it hard for her to think anything at all until she could bring herself to cope.

Eventually though, she did think something.

_I'm going to murder him._

Swiftly, the girl spun on her heel, snatched her rifle off of the ground, and stalked up the hill. With thoughts of revenge firmly set in her mind, Sinon hastened her pace in the direction of the checkpoint she and Kirito had reached earlier. She knew that he would be re-spawning there soon, and her gun would be there to greet him.

It didn't take her long to spot the ruins she was seeking. She chose to lay down and set up behind some rocks on a large dune that gave her a great view of the land below. She settled into place just in time too, for she could already make out a dark blur streaking through the sand.

_You are not getting away!_

Filled with unusual hatred and anger, Sinon aimed ahead of the blur and opened fire. To her annoyance, the blur dove, avoiding her bullet as it got to its feet in the sand. She probably should have taken more time to calm herself before firing a shot.

Sinon cursed inwardly. Her first shot had been her advantage. It was the one that didn't have a prediction line and was next to impossible to evade.

But of course, if anyone could dodge Hecate II's bullets, it was Kirito.

She could see his face through her scope now, his dark eyes set in resigned determination, seeming to look right at her. Sinon's jaw tightened as she pulled the trigger again. She was well aware of Kirito's skill from the time and missions they had spent together, and she knew that he could be a problem if he was fighting on the opposite side.

As much as she hated to admit it now, she was a bit in awe of Kirito's skills. She…well, _he_ was pretty amazing considering this was his first cyber-type game. He had told her that he had mostly played fantasy games until now, and she got that vibe with the way he wielded his photon sword, but it really seemed like he was _too _good. He rarely died if at all, and the way he fought…he basically kicked ass. It was like nothing she had ever seen before.

It was almost like this world was his reality.

This wasn't a game to him.

Sinon used to think she was the only one who thought that way.

Kirito began to speed toward her, his sword out and glowing in the air in front of him. He moved like an acrobat, dodging and blocking every bullet she sent his way. Before she knew it, he was already making his way up the hill toward her. Sinon cursed again, pushing herself up in an attempt to make a run for it, but she knew that was useless. Kirito was a lot faster than she was.

She had barely lifted her torso up when Kirito vaulted over the rocks and came to face her, his sword brandished in her direction. The corner of the sniper's lip turned up in an angry growl as she yanked her submachine pistol from her belt. She shot at him. He blocked every single bullet, but it managed to buy the girl time to roll over and get to her feet.

Now, it was just the two of them, standing there, facing each other down. Sinon felt her anger boiling within her as she glared down the barrel of her gun at her opponent. Kirito looked at her with equal intensity past the glowing blade of his sword. His expression was calm, yet hard-set with a certain determination as his dark eyes looked evenly into hers.

God, how that pissed her off so much.

"Sinon." The boy called out to her. "We need to talk."

The girl scoffed. "About _what?_ I have nothing to say to you, _Kirito_." She spat, glaring at him full force, but he didn't even flinch.

"I know you're probably angry, but just listen—"

"Not interested!" came a yell before the air was punctuated with the sound of gunfire. Kirito grimaced as he brought up his sword to block the bullets. Even with his speed, he had to admit that Sinon's shots were difficult to outmaneuver. She knew his style, the way he fought, and she could exploit his weaknesses, the places where he was flawed. She wasn't called the best for nothing. But he knew her as well, far more than she realized, so he was able to evade the majority of her bullets. Barely.

He was grazed a few times, red pixels spilling out of his wounds. He ignored them though, and instead dashed toward the girl before him. Angrily, Sinon leveled her gun at him and let loose a volley of shots. She was able to hit him a few times more times, but nothing she inflicted on him was fatal. With a whirl of his blade, Kirito got closer to her. He threw an expert swing in her direction, but Sinon dove under his arm, barely avoiding being cut in two. She rolled to her knee in the sand behind the swordsman, her pistol raised with the tip aiming at his chest. The gun barked and sputtered several more times, but soon, the clip was emptied.

Filled with anger and annoyance, the girl threw the gun away into the sand, not concerned with such a useless item. She didn't have time to reload it. Besides, it didn't matter. She still had one more gun left at her disposal.

In a desperate dive, Sinon went for her sniper rifle. Kirito saw her, and rushed to intercept. However, being held at gunpoint made him stop short. Sinon was standing up, slowly but surely, her gun supported in her arms. She had the scope to her eye, aiming straight at him.

Kirito looked from Sinon to her gun and back again. His eyes hardened, his jaw set as he realized the challenge she was throwing at him. Taking his stance, he angled his body sideways, his sword pointing at her.

Sinon glared at Kirito through the lens of her scope, staring at his stupid, expressionless face. There was no way he would beat her. She would not allow that. She was Sinon, the greatest sniper to ever exist in GGO. She felt great pride in that and did much to maintain her title. There was no way she would let this lying, double-crossing jerk defeat her. Especially when he looked so calm in a situation like this. What nerve!

It was silent as they stared each other down. Not even the wind was blowing at that moment. It was as if the desert itself was holding its breath, anxiously awaiting what would happen next.

Suddenly, a loud _bang _sounded as a shot rang out from Sinon. A bullet flew out of her rifle, headed straight towards the swordsman, the object of her hatred. In one, swift, decisive swipe of his sword, Kirito cut the bullet out of the air. The next thing Sinon knew, he was right in front of her, his sword at her throat and his arm around her waist, trapping her against him now that her gun had been knocked away.

Sinon stared at him, her eyes wide with shock.

_He…beat me._

The girl swallowed, feeling nervous with a sword at her front, Kirito's strong, unmoving body keeping her from escaping. She could feel his muscles, tensed ever-so-slightly against her, and his breathing. He wasn't out of breath, but she could tell that he had used a good amount of stamina. She could hear it, see it move his chest in low, steady rhythm.

"…How?" She finally asked him. Kirito was silent, so she elaborated. "How did you dodge that when you were so close? There was no prediction line, so there wasn't any lag time between the moment I pulled the trigger to when the bullet reached you. You should be dead."

There was another pause, but Sinon stayed still, waiting for his answer as she watched his thoughts swirl just behind his dark irises.

"…Your eye."

Sinon didn't quite understand, so she just furrowed her eyebrows.

"I saw you aiming for my leg."

The girl blinked in shock. "You predicted the prediction line?" She asked, but Kirito didn't answer, he just kept giving her that aggravatingly calm expression. The sniper laughed once, but she didn't smile. "You're the only one insane enough to do that."

"…Maybe I am." The boy answered, a hint of amusement in his voice. It took a moment for him to speak again, but when he did, he seemed to have sobered up. "I still want to talk."

"I don't think I can stop you now." The girl responded, a bit sarcastically, sounding defeated. She couldn't help it. She was trapped between a sword and a stubborn swordsman, there was nothing she could do to escape. "I'm listening."

Kirito was silent for a minute, as if he were trying to organize his thoughts. "…Yes. I did lie to you."

"Why?" Sinon asked, a slight edge to her tone.

The boy hesitated again, choosing his words carefully. "Well for one, you just automatically assumed I was a girl."

"It's not my fault your avatar looks like that." The girl snapped. She expected some kind of retort in return, but was surprised to hear a simple sigh.

"I know."

"…Why didn't you just explain?"

"To be perfectly honest?"

Sinon gave a firm nod, the best one she could without touching the glowing blade under her chin.

There was another aggravated sigh. "Well, I'm not…I'm just not…good with people."

Indigo eyes blinked at that.

_What? _

Looking a bit weary, Kirito flicked off his blade and released the girl from his grasp. Feeling him let go, Sinon moved away from him slightly, feeling a bit wary.

Now that they were standing on equal terms, Sinon watched Kirito as he avoided her gaze, rubbing the back of his neck abashedly. "When we met, you thought I was a girl and seemed fine with that. You _liked _me just fine, so I thought 'why not keep it that way?'"

Sinon just blinked at him as he continued to look away from her. "So you felt the need to lie to me? To keep me in the dark?"

Kirito winced. "Yeah. Sorry about that."

The sniper continued to scrutinize him, her indigo eyes watching his every move. Her arms crossed over her chest as her mind thought his words over.

_So he just did that because he was afraid that I wouldn't like him? That's kind of stupid but…_

"I guess I can understand that." Sinon finally replied, causing Kirito to look up at her in surprise. "I'm not very good with people either."

The boy continued to look at her in disbelief. "So…does that mean…?"

Sinon pursed her lips, setting her intimidating gaze upon him. "I guess I can forgive you."

Kirito's shoulders slumped in relief. He was expecting something far worse.

"…Just don't ever let me see your face again."

Dark eyes widened, hoping that she was joking, but all they saw was an impassive wall of hostility.

_That didn't look like he was forgiven._


	15. Seeking Solace

**Seeking Solace**

Kazuto watched as the wind gently rustled the leaves of the trees, blowing them in a small, swirling, circular motion through the air. Summer was just about here. You could tell by the fullness of the trees and how green they were. And the weather was getting to be pretty warm as well, though not uncomfortably so just yet.

Uncharacteristically, Kazuto felt an urge to go outside and enjoy that weather. Usually, he wouldn't really want to _be _outside at all, considering he was a gamer at heart, but right now, videogames weren't exactly working for him. Why? Well, it was all because of—

"Kirigaya?"

Blinking, Kazuto looked away from the window, taking his chin out of his hand, to look toward the voice that had just called out to him.

"Asada? Hey," he said in answer, his gaze coming to meet a girl with ebony hair and dark brown eyes behind oval-shaped glasses. Normally, he wouldn't be able to assign a specific color to Shino's eyes, but the summer sun somehow warmed them up just a bit so that they looked brown.

Shino eyed her classmate a little worriedly. "Are you ok? I've been trying to get your attention for the past few minutes."

Kazuto just blinked again. "Really?" he asked sheepishly. "Sorry. I guess I just had a lot on my mind."

It took her a second, but Shino just nodded in response and sat down without another word. That was the good thing about Shino, she knew not to pry into other people's business, especially if it seemed to be on a touchy subject.

The black-haired boy turned around in his seat to face his classmate. "So…what were you trying to get my attention for?"

Shino shrugged as she took out her notebook and placed it on her desk. "I tried to say 'good morning,' but you didn't look like you heard me."

"Oh, well… 'morning?"

The girl rolled her eyes, an amused smirk gently tugging at the corner of her lip. "You need to get yourself together, scatterbrain."

Kazuto rubbed the back of his head, laughing nervously. "Yeah. I'll try," he answered before turning back around in his chair.

Yes. Shino Asada was the reason why he wasn't really into videogames at the moment. More specifically, it was her other persona, Sinon, that was the problem. After their little… falling out,Sinon had said that she had forgiven him for misleading her for so long. Kirito had been glad for that, at least she didn't want to outright kill him anymore…

But then she stopped talking to him.

In the beginning, Kirito thought it was just temporary, that Sinon still needed time to come to terms with him not being a girl. But then it seemed more than that when she ignored him and deliberately spoke like he wasn't there. She had even 'accidently' almost shot him to death several times. And when they _weren't _on mission, he tried to talk to her, follow her around, but she always walked away from him, not speaking unless to say 'go away' or 'leave me alone.'

But that was the thing: he _couldn't _do that. The whole point of this was trying to help her, get close to her, and he couldn't do that if he left her alone.

Besides, she was the only one he knew in GGO. He had no one else to hang out with; he told her as much.

And that's why he's here now. He felt like if he tried to connect with Sinon any more online, then she would fill him with bullet holes whenever they so much as made eye contact. In the real world, however, he would have an easier time talking to her. She didn't know who he was, and best of all, Shino Asada and Kazuto Kirigaya had begun to form a nice little friendship, so there wasn't any murderous tension between them.

"Kazuto!"

Hearing his name, the boy looked up to see two girls making their way over to him. One was a girl with short, brown hair held back by hair clips on either side of her head. The other girl had chestnut-brown eyes and matching hair that went down to her waist.

"Rika. Asuna." Kazuto said, sounding slightly surprised as the two girls came up to his desk.

Just behind him, Shino sighed and thought 'Great, more girls from his harem.'

Rika smiled in her usual confident way and waved at Kazuto. "Hey there! How's it going?"

"Fine. I guess." He answered, before Asuna caught his eyes. She just gave him a faint smile and waved. Quite honestly, he didn't want to see Asuna right now. He didn't even want to _be in the same room _as her. He just felt a little bitter, so he waved curtly and turned his attention back to Rika. "Do you need something? Isn't your homeroom down the hall?"

"Well, yeah, but we have a while before classes start. I have an important question to ask."

By the look on her face, Kazuto had a feeling that he would regret having this conversation. "What?"

"Why haven't you logged-on in a while?" Rika asked, slamming her hands down on Kazuto's desk.

A desk away, Shino felt a bit interested. _Kirigaya plays videogames?_

"Uh. Well—" Kazuto tried to explain himself.

"I mean, seriously, I know that you and Asuna broke up, but does that mean you have to avoid her in-game?"

_And he had a girlfriend? _Shino was learning a lot today.

"It's not like that!" Kazuto said quickly, waving his hands in front of himself. "You-You see, I have this friend that wanted me to play with them in another game, so I converted my account."

Rika scoffed playfully. "Don't lie, Kazuto. We all know that you don't have any friends outside ALO."

Kazuto wasn't sure whether to panic because she saw through him or be insulted.

Surprisingly though, Asuna spoke next.

"Kirito, you don't have to feel like you have to avoid gaming because of our relationship. We're friends now so…"

Kazuto sighed. "Asuna, I told you, that's not the—"

"Kirito?"

Blinking, Kazuto turned toward the voice to see Shino, her face hidden by her hair. "Yeah?"

The girl was quiet for a minute. "…Did she just call you Kirito?"

"Uh… Yeah." Kazuto began. He guessed Shino would find that weird, Asuna always seemed to call him by his username—Wait!

He looked at her again, his eyes going wide and his breath catching in his chest.

Oh, shit.

To Rika's and Asuna's surprise, Shino abruptly stood from her chair, pushing her desk up violently. Before they could process what was happening, Shino was next to Kazuto, her fist clenched in the front of his shirt.

"_You're _Kirito?" Shino asked, glaring daggers at him. She had thought that maybe she was over-thinking it, but now that she thought about it, it was the same name, no mistaking it.

And these eyes belonged to that name.

Kazuto was pretty sure that he was going to die now. Shino had finally figured out who he was in the real world thanks to Asuna (how fitting that his ex-girlfriend would lead him to his death), and now she would be after him with a vengeance.

He just couldn't catch a break, could he?

Now, nowhere was safe.


	16. Excuses

A/N: I know. This has taken a long time but at least I finally got it out. This chapter was causing me problems and summer homework is a pain. I'm trying, 'kay? Anyway, as you might have noticed, this is now rated T. That's mostly because of some of the language I use, like the cursing. I was thinking about changing the rating for a while now, I just wanted to see how far I could get with K+. I just really like curse words. Is that bad? Nothing adult will happen though, in case you were wondering. I don't write smut so don't worry about that and please just enjoy this sucky chapter.

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**Excuses**

To put things bluntly, Kazuto was is some pretty deep shit.

Usually, he didn't use that kind of language seeing as how Suguha would get onto him and Asuna (when he was dating her) would also make a point to smack him whenever he used such words. So Kazuto didn't make cursing a habit.

That didn't mean that he never cursed though. He was human, and a teenager, so cursing was part of his everyday life whether he allowed it to be or not. His classmates cursed, the people he met online cursed, even his friends had an impressively extensive vocabulary. This being so, Kazuto couldn't stop himself from cursing every time a difficult or frustrating situation arose.

And this was one of those times.

Looking at the girl in front of him, his classmate and until-recently-friend, Shino Asada, Kazuto had the feeling that he was inevitably going to die today or at least regret ever being alive. The coldness in her now dark gray eyes made him freeze up inside and the way she just stood there in silent fury made him sure that she would explode on him any second. He knew that he was in grave danger of losing some of his body parts and/or enough blood to let him glimpse the gate into the beyond.

He just had one question though…

Why was he suddenly on the roof?

He could feel the diamond-patterned, metal fence pressing into his back as he stood there, trying to put as much distance between him and the intimidating girls in front of him as he possibly could. It was bad enough that Shino was now contemplating murdering him, but now Asuna and Rika had somehow gotten involved in this mess he had found himself in.

If Kazuto believed in a god or gods of any kind, he was praying now.

"Ok, _Kazuto. _Start talking." Shino demanded, her voice deathly calm. "You _knew _who I was didn't you."

"Um… well—"

"You _knew _all this time, so you've still been lying to me."

"Yeah…"

"Why?"

Kazuto looked at her, marveling at the fact that he wasn't dead yet and that Shino was actually giving him a chance to explain himself. "Well…" he began, eyes flitting to look at the two confused girls standing behind Shino, Rika and Asuna. He really didn't want them knowing too much about this, they would never let him hear the end of it. "I kinda already told you."

Shino raised an eyebrow. "So you pretended because you thought I _liked _you?" Then, a thought struck her and she suddenly exclaimed "Wait! Did you know who I was when we first met?"

The boy blinked at her. "You mean the first time or the second time?"

The bespectacled girl stared at him long and hard, rethinking her question. "Both."

"The first time, no. That was the first I knew of a Shino Asada. The second time… yes?"

"How did you know? Were you stalking me?"

"What? No! I-I wasn't stalking you—"

"Then how?"

Kazuto froze for a second. There were several different ways he could answer that question, but he didn't want to say anything embarrassing like 'your eyes.' He could also mention how he thought Shino and Sinon were so alike, but he would just start to sound creepy. Like a stalker.

"It was your journal… the sketches. It was kind of a guess at first." _For a few seconds._

Shino's face turned slightly red and her eyes looked away from his. "Oh."

"Wait, wait, wait. I'm still confused." Rika cut in, her eyes going from Shino to Kazuto and back again. "What are you two talking about? Do you guys know each other?"

"Yes… and no." Kazuto answered, uncertain of how to answer that question. Each of them knew who the other was, but they didn't _know _each other, if that made any sense.

"Well can you please explain? Does this have to do with why you haven't logged in?"

At Rika's question, Shino felt something click in her head. Was it really that much of a coincidence that Kazuto had suddenly chosen to play GGO after meeting her?

Kazuto did _not _want to admit it was because he was trying to get closer to Shino, he would really start sounding like a stalker then. "I just got kind of tired of playing the same type of games over and over again. I wanted to try something different. I guess."

"I don't buy it." Rika immediately deadpanned. "If that was the case, why didn't you just tell us?"

Kazuto was also not going to say that he did it to save a girl. That just sounded corny and totally unrealistic. Not to mention extremely embarrassing. Besides, he hadn't said anything before because he hadn't known what to say. Was he supposed to have said 'Hey, I'm converting my account to another game because I'm obsessed with a dead girl who is actually just a figment of my imagination, see ya!' He wasn't even sure why he had converted his account in the first place when he could have just made another one. He had just used the same account on a whim.

"I… didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings." Kazuto mentally face-palmed. He really hated being socially awkward sometimes. The majority of the time, his words were so awkwardly put together that it made him cringe.

"Still not buying it."

"Well, what else do you want me to say?!"

"How about the truth, Kirito." Asuna suggested. Kazuto had almost forgotten how scary _she_ could be too. Why was he surrounded by so many scary women in his life?

"That-That _is_ the truth! I wasn't sure how to break it to you guys so I just did it!"

"Uh-huh." Rika said disbelievingly, smirking because she knew that he wasn't telling the truth. At least not all of it. He wasn't a very good liar when he didn't think things over strategically first.

"It is!"

"Sure it is, Kazuto."

"So. I'm not the only one who's been lied to." Shino stated, a glare falling over her glasses.

Kazuto felt a sense of foreboding then. He knew Shino and he knew Sinon. Knowing _both of them, _he had a feeling that he was in for it now.

"Looks like you've been doing some shady things again, Kazuto." Rika said teasingly. Said boy wasn't even going to ask what she meant by 'again'. And he was not shady, thank you very much. At least, not _extremely _shady… He had to admit, his favorite color being black was a bit shady. Not to mention that most of his wardrobe consisted of dark clothing… Ok, he really wasn't helping his case, but whatever.

"Well, I… you just… ugh." Kazuto grunted. Stupid social skills.

A smirk came across Rika's face. "You know what? I think you should be punished."

Kazuto felt a sick feeling drop into his stomach. He did not like the sound of that.

"What do you think, Asuna?"

"Rika…" Asuna warned, knowing that her friend might go overboard.

"Actually," Shino spoke from in front of them, still facing Kazuto, and the smallest of smirks pulled at the corner of her lip. "That doesn't sound like a bad idea.

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A/N: Ooo. What are they gonna do? I will be impressed if any of you guys can guess. I'm actually kind of excited to write the next chapter just because of how I picture them punishing Kazuto. Wish him luck guys and I will try to get the next chapter out soon!


	17. Vengeance

A/N: Ha, I'm such a liar. Summer is over and I barely did anything. School's started a month ago, and that will be a problem because now I have AP classes (basically college courses in high school. I'm such a nerd) and homework is a bitch. So please just bear with me people.

And wow. A lot of you did not want Kazuto to cross-dress. I didn't realize it was that overused. Well, I didn't use it, so you're welcome. I considered it though. Kudos to carlos. hernandez. 56679015 for guessing right :) There were a bunch of other really good suggestions too, and they made me laugh to read, so thanks for that!

Also, in case some of you read my other stuff, I will mostly be focusing on my two earliest fics (and this one of course) until I complete them because they are so close to being done and I want to not worry about them anymore and focus on new stuff, so IDWF will not be updated in a while. I will post on the anniversary though. I try to do that for all my fics, so look forward to that.

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**Vengeance**

If Kazuto were asked to summarize what he felt right then, it would only take four words:

_I hate my life._

"Come on, Kazuto! Hurry up!" Rika (AKA Lisbeth) shouted, waving at a certain dark-haired boy down the street from her.

Kazuto just grunted as he walked, picking up the pace a bit with his hands shoved deep into his jeans pockets.

Was he moody?

Yes.

Were his feet already killing him?

Yes.

Did he feel ready to go home?

Very.

Did he feel like hitting his head against a brick wall forty million times?

No. Forty million and one.

How long has he been out?

Ten minutes.

Did he hate everything?

That has already been established.

Was he wearing all black?

Maybe.

Where was he…?

A shopping mall.

He wasn't even really sure why he was there in the first place. If he had to guess, this would be Rika's, if not Shino's, idea of punishing him. Normally, he wouldn't mind shopping, it was just a normal necessity of life to get clothes and things like that, but right now? No. Shopping was the bane of his existence.

At least they hadn't made him cross-dress or anything like that. That would have just been weird. They probably would have made him wear a skirt, put on make-up and a wig, then go out in public. He probably would have had to use his falsetto voice too. Embarrassing.

Wait… He was here because…?

Oh yeah. He had pretended to be a girl. On purpose. Of his own free will.

Again, just four little words.

"Kirigaya."

Said boy looked up, a bored expression on his face. "What?"

But his expression instantly changed at the sight of probably the scariest person he had ever met.

Shino just stood there, outside this store Rika had dragged them all to (and by that, he meant the girls, including Suguha, Asuna and Keiko), and glared at him.

Kazuto's back instantly straightened and his hands came out of his pockets. "Uh, I mean, yeah?"

The ebony-haired girl just narrowed her eyes at him, hardly moving.

He gulped.

Finally, Shino just grabbed his sleeve at the elbow and dragged him inside. "Just hurry up."

Once they had passed through the double doors, Kazuto could see racks and racks of clothes of all different styles and colors and groaned. This was going to be a long day.

Suddenly, Kazuto noticed that Shino had let go of him. He turned to look at her, but she had already gone and was looking at a rack of clothes to his far left. He watched as she eyed it, her eyes critically scanning over the various clothes displayed. Finally, she reached out her hand and selected a simple, powder blue shirt.

Kazuto couldn't help a small smile from forming on his face. That was just like Shino: to pick something practical. Summer was just around the corner and it was getting pretty hot, so of course she would pick something comfortable and efficient, not really going by style.

After Shino had moved away, Kazuto began to feel awkward. He didn't really know what he should have been doing at that moment. He didn't really need to buy anything, so he was kind of just there. His eyes glanced around, looking for something to do. Suddenly, he spotted a familiar head of black hair with silver clips in it, and made a beeline for it (or at least the best beeline he could make without running into the displays).

As he neared, Suguha saw him out of the corner of her eye and turned, smiling.

"Hey, Onii-chan. Would you hold this for me?" she asked, holding out a blouse to him.

"What do I look like, a coat hanger?" he deadpanned, but took it from her all the same.

Sugu shrugged. "Have you looked in the mirror recently?"

_Ouch. _"Mean."

He just received a laugh in return as his sister went back to looking at clothes. A smirk broke across Kazuto's face after that. This was why he came over here with Sugu; he wouldn't be hating every minute of his life. With Asuna, things would just be awkward. With Rika, he would be dragged by the arm all over the place and forced to give an opinion on _everything. _Keiko… on second thought, Keiko wouldn't have been all that bad. Then again, she was probably with Rika or Asuna anyway. And Shino?

Hahaha—no.

Kazuto glanced up in her direction and saw her across the room, looking through a pile of jeans. If he had been here with her _before _she was pissed at him, it wouldn't have been that bad. In GGO when they had gone shopping for gear together, Kirito had actually had a bit of fun (for about the first hour until he felt they had been there too long). He learned all about the different guns and specs of the armor and stuff, and in between, their conversations were interesting to say the least. But now, he wouldn't have gotten _bored _per se, more like… what was the word? Oh, right. _Terrified._

"Onii-chan?"

Kazuto blinked before turning his head to the voice. "Yeah?"

Suguha eyed him curiously, her gaze flickering in the direction he had unknowingly been staring. "Are you ok?"

"Oh, yeah. Just don't really feel like being at the store." _With everyone._

And that was another thing. He didn't even know why everyone had tagged along. It's not like they had all been involved in his and Shino's fight or whatever it was. He loved his friends, but right now, not so much.

The younger Kirigaya made a humming sound as she turned back to the display. "Then maybe you shouldn't have lied to Asada."

Kazuto sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I know."

Suguha glanced at him. "Have you apologized yet?"

"Uh…" How exactly did he answer that question? Yes? Technically he did, in GGO, but in real life…? Not that he really remembered.

His sister seemed to know what he was thinking as she nodded. "You should do that soon. It might help."

"Thanks, Sugu," her brother replied sincerely. He was glad that he at least had Sugu to talk to whenever he needed to be serious. She was like his best friend, in a way, if siblings could even be included in the 'friend' category.

Suddenly, someone grabbed his arm and dragged him along, almost making him topple over backward.

"Come on, Kazuto." It was Rika's voice.

"Ow! What?" he asked, trying to keep his balance with Suguha's clothes still in his arms.

Rika grinned back at him. "You're the guy of the group, so you _have _to give an opinion of the clothes we're picking out."

Nnnooooo! So _that _was why everyone came, to make this day out even more excruciatingly painful!

Sugu saw the look on his face and smirked, taking her clothes away from him before he was taken away. "Thanks, Mr. Coat Hanger."

Kazuto didn't even have time to answer as Rika dragged him over to the corner of the store where the changing rooms were and sat him down in a chair beside a full-length mirror.

"Now don't go anywhere, and if you so much as _glance _at our feet under the curtains you will regret it."

"Yes, ma'am," he grumbled, looking to the side and propping his chin in his hand in boredom. It's not like he was a peeping tom or anything. Sheesh.

Rika just smiled and with a final "Good," she went behind one of the curtains.

Kazuto just sat there in his chair in the meantime, absent-mindedly looking at his reflection in the mirror.

When the 'fashion show' started, Keiko (AKA Silica) came out first. She looked a bit embarrassed at what she was doing, and stepped in front of the mirror, giving a twirl so that her miniskirt fluttered out a little.

"Wh-What do you think?"

"Keiko," Kazuto said. "You don't have to do this."

"Y-Yeah, I know," she said, her cheeks slightly pink. "But Rika told me to, so just go with it."

The boy sighed and obliged. "It looks great."

Keiko blushed some more before going back inside her curtain. Kazuto watched her go, smiling softly. Keiko, he knew, didn't really like to show off all that much, unless she felt like she had something to prove, so doing this must not have been on her bucket list. But, she was loyal, and if a friend asked her to do something, anything really, she would probably do it.

Next was Asuna. The two of them didn't talk much as she stood in front of the mirror, turning to the side to look at her outfit from the back.

"Does it look ok to you?"

He glanced at her before looking away again. "Yeah. Fine," he answered a bit reluctantly. They may have broken up, and the attraction may have been gone, but that didn't mean he thought she was ugly. Anyway, he had been clothes shopping with Asuna before, so he knew the drill with her.

Rika came out after that. She smirked, her hand on her hip and asked "What do you think?"

"That you're evil."

She rolled her eyes. "Aw, don't be like, Kazuto. At least try to have fun."

"You purposefully took me here so I _wouldn't _havefun!"

The brunette laughed. "True, true. But you can try to make the most out of it. All of these pretty girls are willingly trying on clothes for you."

_Only normal guys enjoy that. I would rather be at home online than here, _Kazuto thought, but he didn't actually say it. Instead he just crossed his arms and looked away. "Whatever." Rika just smiled, looking at him expectedly. Kazuto could feel her stare and glanced at her once before looking away. "It looks fine, but I think the shirt should be red. Or pink."

"Hm. Yeah. I kinda thought that too," she said, looking at her herself in the mirror before going back to her changing room.

Kazuto didn't really openly admit it, but he had a pretty good sense of fashion because of all the time he spent with Suguha (and Asuna when they had been dating). It was just a side effect of having a sister so close to your own age.

Almost immediately after Rika disappeared, Suguha came out wearing a black skirt, green blouse, and a denim jacket. She stood in front of the mirror, gave a slight turn, and looked to Kazuto with a smile.

The older teen smirked. "Nice… but you're skirt needs to be longer."

Sugu puffed out her cheeks. "But it looks better this way."

"Yeah, but I don't want you going out in public and having guys stare at you." If he caught anyone doing that, he'd kick their asses… or at least try to, he wasn't exactly boxing champion of the world.

The girl rolled her eyes. "I'm not defenseless, Onii-chan. I take kendo."

He just held his hands up in surrender. He knew that. _Of course _he knew that. Why wouldn't he? She was third in nationals. "Ok, ok. Whatever you say, Sugu."

"Hmph." She huffed superiorly before turning and going back to change.

Kazuto watched her as she went, thinking. He knew perfectly well that his sister was capable of fending for herself, but did that mean he wasn't allowed to worry as her brother?

He was so consumed with his thoughts, that he almost didn't notice the last curtain open. Seeing movement out of the corner of his eye, Kazuto turned to look and saw Shino standing there, not paying him any mind. For a moment, his mind went blank and he just stared. She was wearing the blue shirt he had seen her pick out earlier, along with form-fitting black jeans.

She stood there for a moment, just looking at herself standing in the mirror. Her body turned side-to-side once, then, without looking at her 'audience,' she left and went behind her curtain.

This went on for what felt like hours. The girls changed outfits, then went outside to where Kazuto was. They seemed to go through several phases or something, like they had planned it all out. First it was casual wear, then more dressy things, and finally, to Kazuto's dismay, swimsuits.

Kazuto didn't really have much to say about any of them, he kind of just looked and gave a simple opinion, although… there were a few things that stood out just a bit.

First of all, he didn't really care what the others did, but Suguha, he was very critical with. Her stuff was fine for the most part, but he thought some of it was a bit revealing. Like her swimsuit. When she had come out of the changing room, he had wanted her to cover up, or, you know, through a curtain over her himself. It's not that she looked bad, just… too much skin. Seriously, there were some shady guys out there.

And then, there was Shino. She was… how should he explain it? She definitely stood out. The first thing that he thought was really something was when she came out wearing a dress with a white, sleeveless top, a black skirt, and a belt around her waist. The pattern resembled lace and it made her look… cute. She looked a bit irritated though as she came to stand in front of the mirror. It took Kazuto a moment, but he finally opened his mouth to give a genuine compliment when she said "Don't. Say. Anything" and walked away.

The next thing, was of course, the swimsuits. Those were the things that really embarrassed him. He tried not to look it, but it was hard to hide. Shino though…

She ended up wearing two. The first one she wore was a modest one piece that she chose only because the others forced her to (they probably forced her to wear the dress too). The second one, was a two-piece that made Kazuto's cheeks feel warm. It was black and white striped and showed off her curves… there's really nothing else to say. Shino's cheeks had been pretty warm too as she came out, avoiding eye-contact.

She was barely out five seconds before she rushed back inside, Rika and Keiko telling her to come back out because she 'looked great.'

Finally it came time to check-out, and everyone stood in line at the counter when Suguha made a sound.

"Agh!"

Kazuto gave her a weird look. "What?"

She dug around in her purse a bit. "I can't find my wallet. I might have left it in my room."

"Oh… I'll pay."

"What?" the younger Kirigaya asked in alarm, eyes looking to Kazuto's hand as he pulled out his wallet. "You don't have to do that! I'll pay you back!"

"Sugu, it's fine. Just let me, ok?"

Suguha continued to argue with him as the others looked on. Shino especially took interest as she had never really seen the two siblings interact before (unless you count those few seconds when she had gone to their house for that project). In the end, Kazuto won and Sugu pouted a bit, but didn't seem too upset.

…_He's actually not that bad of a brother._

Kazuto turned to the cashier, about ready to hand over the money, when he paused, as if a thought had occurred to him. Suddenly, he looked back at Shino. "Asada, give me your stuff."

She blinked. "What?"

The boy held out his hand. "I'll pay for your stuff too."

"W-why would you do that?" the ebony-haired girl asked, looking absolutely bewildered.

Kazuto shrugged. "I came here to make it up to you, right? Consider this my personal contribution."

Shino eyed him warily. She had her own money and was planning on paying it herself, but… the look in his eyes told that he wasn't going to give up easily.

Finally, she gave in, handing over the few things she had. "Fine. I don't have that much anyway." It wasn't as if she had come because she needed anything, anyway. She had only come because she knew from experience that Kazuto hated needlessly extensive shopping (in GGO, they had gone shopping for gear on more than one occasion, and more than once, when they had been there for over an hour, he had gotten bored to the point of zoning out every ten seconds).

"Oh, Kazuto, can you pay for us too?" Rika asked teasingly.

"No." Kazuto answered, giving the cashier the money he owed. "Sugu and Asada are different, but if I paid for everybody, I'd go broke and then I wouldn't have any money for food this week!"

"Jeez, don't get so worked up. I was only joking," Rika answered, going passed him to pay next.

Sighing, Kazuto handed Suguha her bag and then turned to give Shino hers. Looking from his sister to his former best friend made him remember what Suguha had said earlier, so as he handed Shino her bag back, he spoke.

"Hey, Asada? I'm sorry, by the way, about… you know."

She just stared at him for a long time, her face expressionless. For a second, he thought that she either had no idea what he was talking about or simply was rejecting his apology.

"…Ok," she finally replied, before taking her bag and walking away.

Kazuto sighed in relief. She accepted the apology. She may not have forgiven him just yet, but at least she accepted it. It was better than nothing.

They ended up shopping for hours, and Kazuto was dismayed at how the little money he had was pretty much gone when the sun began to set. But by the time they all went home, he noticed the small smile that had formed on Shino's lips.

Maybe this had been worth it after all.

* * *

A/N: I feel like that sucked and could have been better, but I wanted to get something out because I felt bad. At least this was relatively long. Almost as long as a normal chapter for me, so you're welcome.

I also feel like I'm portraying Rika/Lisbeth badly. Don't get me wrong, I like her, and I'm trying not to make her seem bad or anything, this is just how stuff played out in my mind.

The others may seem a bit OOC too, but I guess that's to be expected considering they didn't go through the SAO/ALO development.

Hope you enjoyed and please review!


	18. Love

A/N: See the prompt? Now you understand why this took so long!

* * *

**Love**

The warm summer breeze blew through the air, rustling through the leaves on the trees in merriment. The sun beat down on the swaying grasses and rippling, mirror-like water of the lake, the heat not intense just yet, but had the potential to become that way. The sky overhead was a vibrant blue, not a cloud in sight. It was a beautiful day, and that's just what Kazuto was thinking as he looked around at the sight before him. He looked at the trees as they swayed and watched as his classmates walked along with him, some of them not even paying attention to what the teacher was saying. Today, they were supposed to be on a historical field trip visiting the places where the ruins of the Edo castle used to stand and things like that. But Kazuto, being the nerd that he was already, knew pretty much everything that they had come to learn, so he just used the time to enjoy himself.

He smiled as he felt the warm wind tousle his hair, the effect leaving him feeling content and peaceful. He usually wasn't the outdoorsy-type, but this, he could get used to.

"Hey. Whatcha thinkin' about?"

At the familiar voice, Kazuto turned his head and was slightly surprised to find Asuna smiling at him.

He tried not to make things awkward as he shrugged. "Nothing really, just that it's a nice day."

"Hmm…" Asuna hummed in agreement, looking around at the park, holding her messenger bag with both hands as it hung from her shoulder. "Yeah. It is. I can just remember the last time we were here too. That was such a nice day as well."

Kazuto's eyes widened slightly as he looked at his ex. Was she really going to bring up memories from when they were dating?

The girl simply smiled, looking around thoughtfully. "You were saying a bunch of stuff I never really thought about before, how this place was like its own isolated little world."

He didn't say anything, just looked around as she said these words to him. He remembered that, and he would unashamedly admit that he still thought that way. He liked to play with the idea, let his mind wander with it and see where it took him. Having a place of isolation like this in a world dominated by technology that could hack into your personal data was truly a solace.

Asuna seemed to be thinking along similar lines as she spoke again. "I've liked the idea ever since then. It makes this place almost seem like a kingdom, as if it had never stopped being that way."

For a second, Kazuto could remember exactly why he had loved Asuna, but now that he thought on those reasons along with the reasons why they broke up, the affect wasn't the same. Asuna was a good person, one of the kindest he had ever met, in fact, but they had too many differences to completely understand each other to the point where they could live together forever. Although, being reminded of the things they had in common made him think that maybe they could be just friends.

"Alright class, we will stop here for lunch. Be ready to pack up and leave by 12:30."

Kazuto and Asuna, watched as the teacher gave her announcement and left, leaving everyone near a picnic area by the lake.

"Did you bring a lunch?"

"Uh, yeah," Kazuto answered, patting his book bag for emphasis.

"Good. Why don't you come eat with me and Rika? It'll be nice to officially catch up. And don't worry, Rika promised to behave," she offered, adding that last part when she saw the look on his face at the mention of her best friend.

"I guess... Why not?"

"Great. Let's go find her," the girl said, and with that, she tugged on Kazuto's sleeve at the elbow, pulling him in the direction she wanted to go.

Kazuto wasn't really sure what to do at this point, so he just let Asuna pull him along. In the interest of a possible friendship, he tried not to make things weird with his speech (knowing himself, he would accidently say something that would earn him a slap to the face or something). It didn't take them long to find Rika, who was sitting at a bench under a tree waiting for them. Once she saw them, she waved with a free hand, her other holding a sandwich. Asuna waved back walking over to sit with her. Kazuto made to follow, but he stopped when he caught sight of a familiar person in his peripheral vision.

It was Shino. She was just standing there, bag in hand, watching as everyone sat eating and talking together. Her eyes slid around at them all, taking them in with a neutral expression until her dark gray eyes met Kazuto's. He stared at her for a while, their gazes locking as she just looked back.

"Asada?" he called, something inside him compelling him to speak. It was more of a question, but he somehow already knew what she was feeling and why. Before he could say anymore, Shino just shook her head and walked away, going in the direction away from him, from everyone, and to another section of the park.

Kazuto's onyx eyes stared after her, a certain yearning sensation growing in his chest as she left. He had been about to ask her if she wanted to eat with them, and he really had been hoping she would accept. They may have been a bit at odds recently, but his goal to help her hadn't lessened at all. In fact, if he did say so, it was stronger now.

_Why though? _he suddenly thought as his resolve confused him. Why did he want to help her so much? Not that he wouldn't help anyone, but his drive to help her seemed stronger than it should have if she were just some other person. Was it because he saw so much of himself in her…? Maybe, but that didn't feel right. Sure they were similar, but they weren't carbon-copies of each other, even he could see that. No, it had to be something else.

He tried to evaluate just what she was to him, but even that was a muddle of thoughts in his head. She had turned from the girl who he tripped on the sidewalk, to his classmate, the girl who hated him, his friend, his online friend, and then finally the girl who hated him again. Right now, he wasn't sure exactly where they stood, but he knew that he still wanted to help her, the yearning in his chest was proof of that. Perhaps he still considered her his friend? Yes… and no. He compared his feelings for her to his feelings for say Rika or Keiko, but it just wasn't the same. So, he took it up a step and compared it to his feelings for Sugu. It was more accurate, but still not exactly right. He wasn't sure he was as close to Shino as he was to Sugu. With a jolt, he finally compared it to the feelings he had for Asuna when they had been together… No… that still wasn't right. Maybe his feelings were similar to that, but it more resembled his feelings for Sugu. So he couldn't be in—in _love… _could he?

The boy shook his head. No. That wasn't possible. He barely knew Shino. Why would he be in love with her if he barely knew her?

_But I _do _know her._

The thought sent shivers down his spine. Now he was really confused. Just what was Shino to him?

"Kazuto!" he heard Rika call. "What are you still doing over there?"

"Uh, right. Sorry!" he said back, going over to sit with them. For now, he decided to push aside those confusing thoughts and live in the present. He had half a mind to go after Shino, but if she wanted privacy, he would let her have it. That didn't mean he would stop trying to help her… for whatever his reason was

* * *

A/N: Yeah, so now that I finally figured out what to do for this stupid prompt, the next few should write easier since I've already been thinking about them.

On a different note, I want to give a shout out to Warrior1311 who is now my editor for this story and IDWF. He's great and now I'm glad to say that my writing quality will improve from here on out :)


	19. Tears

A/N: Happy Anniversary! Sorry I haven't posted in a long time. My life has been crap and writing was difficult for a while. But I always make a point to at least update on anniversaries so yeah. Hopefully my updating schedule will get better but… well, you know :P

And thanks for all the support! It means a lot and I'm sorry that you have to put up with me! Special thanks go to Warrior-san (always wanted to use an honorific) for editing for me even when I'm ridiculous.

I don't know if this is any good, but I hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Tears**

_Ding dong, ding dong… Ding dong, ding dong…_

Kazuto sighed in relief as the last bell of the day rang. Faintly, he registered the sound of the chair behind him scraping against the ground. He turned his head on instinct, watching out of the corner of his eye as Shino stood with her bag and left the room before turning forward and gathering his own belongings. He really just was glad that it was Friday, the last day of school for the week. School being out meant less for him to worry about. Add on the fact that Suguha had been out miserably sick for the last three days… Yeah, he needed a break.

Speaking of Sugu, a sudden thought hit him as he slung his bag over his shoulder. "I need to stop by the store and buy her some medicine," he muttered. "And maybe some ingredients for soup. Or porridge." Honestly, he wasn't sure what she would be in the mood for. He'd have to text her.

Kazuto pulled out his phone, his eyes absently wandering over to stare out the window. He had just lifted the device, his fingers hovering over the screen to pull up his text conversation with his sister, when he spotted a certain ebony-haired friend of his. He paused, simply watching as she walked across the courtyard, her bag on her shoulder. She didn't stop, didn't even talk to anyone as she walked toward the entrance gates, the crowd practically parting for her to pass, as if her very aura repelled them.

The sight made something small and hollow expand inside Kazuto's chest, an empathetic sorrow causing his arms to lower slightly. How Shino was now reminded him so much of how he used to be.

He continued to watch the girl as she reached the sidewalk and turned right, headed for what he assumed to be her house. She never seemed to walk with anybody on her way home. Even after that day out shopping, she didn't hang out with Asuna, Rika, or the others. Why did she want to be alone so much?

Suddenly, Kazuto's onyx eyes caught sight of a couple girls walking up to Shino on the sidewalk. He blinked once. Twice. Three times. Who were they? Friends of hers…? Maybe he had been wrong about her after all.

He stood there, stunned for a moment as they talked. Then, one of the girls slung an arm carelessly around Shino's shoulder.

"No. Wait a minute," he muttered, eyes narrowing as he leaned closer to the window to see. The girls talked to Shino like they were her friends, normal people coming to pick up their friend for an afternoon out or something. But that was only what it looked like. Shino was standing unusually straight. And those girls… he didn't like the way they were smiling.

* * *

Honestly, Shino had just been waiting for this day to come, when her bullies from her last school would finally figure out where she transferred to and come to continue what they started. A small part of her had been hoping that maybe this would never happen and they would just leave her alone. But the realist side of her knew not to put too much stock into dreams like that.

"Hey, Asada!" That was Masako, if Shino remembered correctly. She tried to make herself feel better and more confident by not remembering their names, as if people as pathetic as them weren't worth having their names known by her. But inside, a small voice always whispered that it was actually the other way around.

Masako smiled as Shino walked toward them, having to stop because they were in her way. Her friend, Namie, was smiling in a similar fashion, but it only served to make Shino's stomach twist uncomfortably. She knew those smiles were fake.

"We've been waiting for you for forever!" Namie whined, her voice high and just loud enough so the other students leaving would hear. To them, this would only seem like three friends meeting after school.

Shino's grip on her bag tightened. She knew what they wanted to do, it was the same thing every time, but now she was determined to be ready. She was stronger than before. She had to be by now with all that diving time she's been putting in.

Masako's mousy brown hair swished a bit as she walked over to Shino's side and slung an arm around her shoulder, grinning down at her like they were old friends. The only reaction Shino had was her back going stiff.

"Come on, Asada. We've got a lot of stuff planned remember? Let's get going." The arm around the girl's shoulder constricted threateningly, and all Shino could do was follow along to avoid making a scene.

The girls led her along the sidewalk, still smiling and talking to each other as the school slowly moved out of sight. They rounded the street corner and continued walking until they reached an alleyway. Once they were next to it, Masako abruptly stopped and shoved Shino toward it, almost making her topple over onto the concrete as she tried to keep her balance. She had just barely managed to remain upright when she felt Namie snatch her bag from her shoulder and drop it onto the ground. The girls advanced on their prey, but she only remained stoic-faced, standing her ground just like the brick wall behind her.

"So, you transferred schools," Namie stated, smirking as she bounced on the balls of her feet, her short, bleached-blonde hair swaying with her. "Why would you do that? I thought you would have wanted to stay with your friends."

Masako had a predatory smirk of her own creeping to her face as she took a step forward. "Did you think that was gonna help you or something? It doesn't change what you are."

Shino clenched her jaw but didn't say anything. She watched them through her glass lenses, her dark eyes flicking to one and then the other calculatingly. Masako was barely taller than her, and Namie was shorter, but for some reason, she felt like their dark shadows were starting to loom over her.

"You thought you could just run away?" Masako stepped even closer. "That's not how it works, Asada. You even abandoned us and we've had to fend for ourselves without you. But I'd be willing to let you earn my forgiveness. You can start by giving me ten thousand yen. My parents cut my allowance and I need the money."

Her hand lifted, and the action made a pang of fear strike through Shino's chest. Her eyes clenched shut, preparing herself for what she knew was coming.

"Asada!"

That voice. It made her head whip around in surprise. Why was he here?

Kazuto was on the sidewalk, in clear view of the three girls and vice versa as he smiled and walked toward Shino.

"I've been looking for you," he said, casually scooping her bag up from the ground as if he hadn't just seen it lying on the ground like someone had carelessly tossed it there. He walked until he was just beside Shino and stopped. "Ready to get going? I want to start heading over before the traffic gets bad.

The girls looked at him in bewilderment, the two on the other side of the alley practically gaping.

"Hey! Who are you?" Masako asked, snapping at him with hostility.

Kazuto looked over at her, appearing surprised, as if he had just noticed her. "Kirigaya," he introduced himself curtly, not smiling as his eyes met hers. "Asada's friend. And… who are you?"

"Tch." Masako sneered at him before looking at Shino, not even bothering to consider his question. "You made a friend, huh? I can't believe you swindled another one."

Shino's fists clenched by her sides. Of course she was going to start spewing lies to get anyone who could remotely like her to immediately reject her as if she had suddenly contracted some disgusting disease.

"Swindled?" Kazuto questioned, his dark eyes glaring so intently at Masako that she took a small step back. But she immediately straightened and plowed forward.

"Yeah. She probably tricked you to make you her friend. I've seen her do that to a lot of guys. It's sad really, cuz once they find out they never want to see her again."

"Find out what?" Kazuto asked, his voice threatening to shift into a growl. He was practically daring her to say something stupid.

"That she's a freak," Namie finally decided to chime in. "Did you know that she moved here on her own and left her family out in the boonies? It's like they sent her away and wanted nothing to do with her."

"They… what?"

"Yeah," Masako picked up the trail of conversation as she caught on to his change in tone. "She lives alone and gets an allowance every month or so. They don't even come to visit. You'd think they just wanted to get rid of her without drawing too much attention. And after that, you'd think she was some cold badass getting whatever she wants, but she's a wuss. She can't even look at this for more than five seconds before freaking out."

Suddenly she was pointing a finger gun at them. Seeing it, Shino immediately shut her eyes and looked away, trying to keep herself together.

"See?" Masako asked pointedly, watching as Kazuto looked back at her, his eyes widening as he saw her body trembling. "It's not even a real gun and she still can't look at it." Her smirk returned as she watched them, imagining how disgusted Kazuto must be. "And she's also a little slut. You wouldn't believe how many guys she's ruined. You really should just stay away from her for your own—"

"Shut up."

Masako immediately stopped talking, her and her one-girl-posse staring at Kazuto as he glared at them from under his bangs. He hadn't spoken loudly, but the words had come out so sharply it was like a wolf had snarled at them. Eyes opening in shock, Shino looked at Kazuto from behind. His fists were clenching at his sides, but he stood still, with composure, and his voice didn't waver.

"You're obviously the ones ruining people. If all you do is take the time to harass and hurt people who didn't do anything to you, you're lives are more pathetic than what you're trying to make hers out to be."

"Wh-what?!" Masako shouted, looking furious. "What the hell is your problem?! You don't even know us!"

"And you don't know Shino," he snapped back. "You don't know anything about her. What gives you the right to talk shit about her when you barely even know what she's like?"

"Oh, so do you know all about her then? What, are you in love with her or something?"

"My feelings don't matter. You should just worry about taking a reality check before screwing with other people's lives to make you feel better about you're sorry excuse for one."

The girl gasped, obviously offended. "And what about you? If you're really taking the time to stand up for _her _then you're life must not be that great either."

"At least I'm put together enough to not be a bitch."

"Bastard! Fine, whatever. Hope you guys have a happy wedding," Masako spat, turning on her heel and escaping into the street. Namie only stayed for a second longer to glare at Kazuto with disgust before heading out after her friend.

For a long time, Kazuto glared after them, not moving until he felt like he had gotten his anger under control. He had barely kept a lid on it anyway talking to that tramp. If Shino hadn't been right behind him, he might have hit something.

Remembering Shino was still behind him, Kazuto turned to make sure she was all right. He was met with her staring at him, her eyes wide in shock. He tried to give her a gentle smile. "You ok?"

"Y-yes," Shino answered, still staring at him wide-eyed. The smile coming easier now, Kazuto lifted his hand, her bag dangling from it, and gave it to her. She took it gingerly, but never took her eyes off of him. When her bag was on her shoulder again, she only stared a bit longer before speaking. "You… said we were friends."

"Uh, yeah," Kazuto scratched his cheek.

"And you stood up for me… why? After all the times I've shoved you away, why would you be willing to do something like this for me?"

For a moment, he simply looked at her. "…I consider you a friend worth doing things for."

_He… he considers me worth something? Even after all this time and what he just heard, he still thinks I'm a decent human being?_

Shino wasn't sure exactly what it was, maybe it was his words or her recent confrontation with those girls, but she suddenly felt something wet roll down her cheek.

Upon seeing the tears, Kazuto's eyes widened, but out of consideration, he looked away. Shino took the opportunity to turn and wipe her sleeve at her eyes under her glasses and regain her composure. How had he managed to catch her in such a weak state twice now?

"So, Sh-Asada," Kazuto began, once Shino had gone back to looking like her usual self. "Do you want a ride home? My sister's out sick so I can take you. If you don't mind a motorcycle."

She blinked, her dark gray eyes looking at him owlishly. But then, a small smile came to her lips, and Kazuto felt like he almost had a heart attack. She was pretty when she smiled.

"Sure. That would be nice."

The dark-haired boy had to take a moment to make sure he was still breathing before answering. "Great. My bike's back at the school." He jerked his thumb behind him, turning slightly on his heel to see if Shino would follow him. She did, and soon, they were walking on the sidewalk back toward the school. It was pretty deserted by now, as most of the other students had either gone home or were at their clubs. The two of them were quiet as they walked, barely speaking as they made it to where Kazuto had parked. But just as he handed Shino his spare helmet, she broke the silence.

"Kirigaya?"

He blinked. "Yeah?"

It took her a second, but Shino finally replied, and when she did, that smile came back. "Thank you."

When he replied, Kazuto couldn't help but smile back. "Any time."


	20. My Inspiration

A/N: The prompt began with "my" so this is in 1st person. I don't write in this point of view often, but Warrior-san was fine with it so I'm going to assume this is good. Also, as you have probably noticed, this fic is a little more than just a normal high school AU. I've added some more of my own elements to the story, including backstory, so if you object to what I'm doing, the only thing I have to say it "why are you even bothering with this?"

* * *

**My Inspiration**

I never thought I would come here again. Not ever. Not after what happened. And yet, here I was, willingly standing inside my family's dojo. For a long time, all I could do was stay in the entryway, unable to make myself take another step inside. I only took it all in, exactly as I remembered it: the white walls, the pristine tatami mats, the shinai and padded armor neatly aligned in racks along the walls… I didn't think I would see it again, but here I was, wanting to.

No. "Want"wasn't exactly the right word for it. More like "need".I needed to be here, my personal feelings aside. If I really wanted to protect the people I cared about, then I would have to suck it up and strive to get stronger in this world, not just the virtual one. Just like Shino.

My eyes lingered on the assorted gear on the walls, my attention reluctantly being drawn to one of the many bamboo shafts displayed there. I took a few hesitant steps toward the wall until I was close enough to touch them. It took a minute, but I eventually reached my hand out, cautiously grasping it in my palm. The grip felt so familiar, like I had never stopped practicing Kendo. It was weird.

Pulling the shinai off the rack, I planned to hold it out in front of me, but just as soon as I removed it, the tip fell and almost smacked the ground. Eyes wide, I compensated for the weight and stopped it, lifting it up again. It was heavier than I expected. It was definitely different from my sword in ALO, or even SAO for that matter. That reality easily registered as my eyes examined the wooden blade.

Suddenly, an image flashed before my eyes. I was no longer in the dojo. It was dark and cold. Red spattered everywhere—

Immediately my muscles seized up, my chest feeling like someone landed a hard punch to my sternum. Suddenly, I felt light-headed, unbalanced, and I staggered back a few steps to stay upright. I struggled just to take a breath, holding it and letting it out with the minimum of shakiness. I dropped the shinai, the noise of it hitting the floor seeming to echo throughout the dojo. I clutched at my chest, taking a rattled breath.

Breathe. Just breathe.

I automatically followed my own instructions, putting all my focus on forcing air into my lungs and out again. I went and picked the shinai up, and repeated the same cycle several times, not stopping until the tremors faded. I don't know why I still acted this way after all this time. I had reasoned with myself over and over again, trying to come to terms with it, but even my logical side couldn't quell the turmoil inside me. But maybe facing it would.

Finally, I opened my eyes, staring across the room for a beat before forcing myself to look at the sword clutched in my hands once again. At least the red was gone.

I sighed, gingerly placing the weapon back into its spot and stepping away, my eyes unable to stray away even as I stepped back. I knew I needed to get back into Kendo, but this… problem… of mine needed to be overcome first. It wouldn't happen overnight, obviously, but just bringing myself to hold it once was a good first step.

"Onii-chan?"

I tensed slightly at the voice, but once I recognized who it was, I turned around to face her. "Sugu? Hey."

"Hey yourself," she said in awe, staring at me like she had never seen me before. "What are you doing in here? You haven't come in in a long time."

A small smile touched my lips. "I was thinking about taking up Kendo again."

There was a pause, her dark eyes blinking as her brain tried to comprehend what I said. Then, her expression lit up and she clapped her hands together in excitement. "Really?!"

"Yeah. You wouldn't mind giving me lessons though, would you? I'm a bit rusty."

"Of course!" she said, a bright smile breaking across her face. "Oh, Onii-chan, that's so great! We'll have to make sure that we have padding that fits you though. Your old gear obviously doesn't fit. Now I know we have some extras around somewhere." Suddenly occupied with her thoughts, she walked across the dojo toward the storage room.

I felt my smile widen as I watched her. She was one of the reasons why I had to do this. I needed Kendo so I could protect her. She and my aunt were the only family I had left. I had to do everything I could to protect them. And Shino. I couldn't forget her. She was the biggest reason why I decided to do this. I remembered that day after school when those girls were bullying her. I was lucky that they were just a couple of girls that time, but what if it had been a mugger or a guy with a knife? What then? I wasn't exactly the fittest guy in the world. I needed something to give me the power to protect, and I would get that something even if my instincts told me to run the other way.

I couldn't help but chuckle a little. I guess… maybe I was in love with Shino. They say love can make you do stupid things, even face your worst fear. But it can also inspire you to go beyond what you thought your limit was. And I was definitely pushing that boundary.

To think, I used to fight with Shino so much. Now, she was my inspiration.


	21. Never Again

A/N: Hey! ...Yeah a lot of you are probably pissed with me for taking so long, but I promise I'm trying. I'm not abandoning anything, I'm just seriously trying to finish another project that's so close to being done. I'll try to get another chapter on IDWF posted before summer is out for those of you who care.

* * *

**Never Again**

"O-nii-chan!" Suguha scolded from behind the grille of her _men_. "Your stance is all wrong! Bend your knees more! This isn't the same as wielding a sword in a game! And your center is wide open!"

"R-right," Kazuto stuttered, getting into a small crouch and bringing his sword to his front so he could hold it between both hands. He was beginning to regret taking up Kendo again.

"Again!" his sister commanded like an echo, holding her shinai between them in the offensive.

Kazuto was tempted to just call it quits. Seriously, how was this supposed to work when he hadn't trained in _years _and was going against his _prodigy_ sister? She was so much better than him now, and quite frankly, that wounded his pride. He was older. He should be more experienced and yet….

But then he remembered exactly why he was doing this and readied himself for another sparring round.

Suguha struck immediately, and Kazuto brought his sword up to block before going in for a strike of his own. His opponent dodged easily, slipping by his defenses and thrusting her sword under his arm. She struck him hard in the side, and it definitely would have left more than just a sting and a forming bruise if he hadn't been wearing padding.

Kazuto stumbled to the side, gritting his teeth as he turned to his awaiting sister. Grip tightening on his sword, he lunged, desperate to make any sort of hit at all. Suguha easily braced herself against the blow, shoving her shinai down the shaft of his and aiming for the spot where neck met shoulder. Stomach lurching, Kazuto thrust his sword up, catching hers on his guard. Her arm jerked into the air, blade still clutched in her hand, center wide open. Kazuto dashed forward, his shinai slamming right into her solar plexus.

Suguha jolted, grip slackening and sword tip hitting the ground, and Kazuto immediately regretted everything. She froze in shock, a small grunt of pain escaping her throat. Slowly, the girl sank to her knees. Kazuto stared at her, stunned, guilt and horror leaving him unable to move.

"S-Sugu—"

"Haha," Suguha laughed. It was weak, strained and out of breath, but it was still there, good-natured and confident. "That was good," she praised, shaking slightly as she got back to her feet, shinai poised at the ready. "Let's go again. You're getting the hang of it."

For a moment, Kazuto hesitated, suddenly rethinking this entire thing and wanting more than anything to quit now. But as she stood in front of him, ready for another go, he saw the steadiness of her stance, the confidence in her face behind her _men,_ and his uncertainty slowly slipped away…

* * *

"_Sugu?"_

_His room was dark, moonlight streaming across his bed and onto the floor as he hadn't bothered closing the curtains or turning the light on. He had wanted to be left alone, just like he always was, and yet there his sister stood, peeking around his door with tears in her eyes._

_The little girl sniffed, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand, erasing the tracks that streaked down her cheeks. "I-I'm sorry, Onii-chan," she said, voice small and trembling. "I didn't w-want to bother you but… but…" More tears welled in her eyes, sparkling in the silvery light as they cascaded down her face. Suddenly, Suguha rushed to her brother. Stunned, he could only watch as the little girl ran to his side and clung to him, a choked sob escaping her lips before she broke down, her face buried in his shirt. "I can't… I can't…!"_

_She couldn't form words beyond that as she wept, her small frame shaking against him and raw cries muffling into his shirt. Kazuto was speechless, staring down at the top of her head, a ring of silver light reflecting in her hair. _

_What was he supposed to do? He and Sugu hadn't been close for a long time, he had made sure of that. And yet… now she was breaking down in front of him, clutching at him and seeking comfort. _

_Steeling himself, Kazuto lifted his arms. Hesitantly, he rested a hand on her head, the other on her back. The touch encouraged her to hold tighter, face pressed to his chest and tears staining his shirt as she cried harder. He ran his fingers through her hair, somber as he gave as much comfort as he could offer. He had been distant until now, but now was different. They couldn't afford to live without each other now._

"_I know, Sugu. I know…"_

* * *

Sugu wasn't that girl anymore. And he wasn't that boy. He had to realize that things were different now.

Nodding, Kazuto lifted his shinai, stance at the ready.

Yes, things were different now. That darkness was in the past. He would never let it return, never let it corrupt a life whether it be in his own or Sugu's or anyone else's. Never again.


	22. Online

A/N: Ay, sorry this took me so long, but as you can tell from the prompt, this was hard... It took me a while to find a way to make "online" special in an anime called Sword Art Online. But you can thank my amazing beta for making me actually get this shit done.

PS, for those of you following IDWF... I'm so deeply sorry, I'm trying!

* * *

**Online**

Shino was just exiting school grounds when a familiar voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Asada-san!"

She blinked, staring down the sidewalk with wide eyes.

"Shinkawa-kun?"

The sandy-haired boy jogged to meet her, breath only moderately heavy as he grinned at her. "Hey. Long time no see."

"Sh-Shinkawa-kun," Shino stuttered, surprise rendering her momentarily speechless. "What are you doing here?"

"Don't look so shocked," he laughed. "We haven't hung out in a while, so I thought I could walk you home at least once."

For a long moment, Shino simply looked at him, her gray eyes blinking into his brown ones. She could hardly remember the last time she had seen her best friend Kyouji Shinkawa in person. It had been right before she transferred schools and they were having one last hurrah in their favorite café before she left… oh how she missed those days.

A small smile slowly crept its way onto Shino's face. "I can't find a way to argue with that. I'd love to walk home with you."

Kyouji smiled at her, rubbing the back of his head. "Good, I'm glad. Otherwise I would have run all the way here for nothing."

Shino grimaced as she started walking, Kyouji easily falling into step beside her. "I'm sorry I made you come all this way; not seeing each other for a while is mainly my fault."

"That's ok. Sure, I miss seeing you every day, but I know you've been busy settling into your new school."

"I still should have tried to at least call you every once in a while," the ebony-haired girl muttered. "I'm sorry."

"Asada-san. It's ok."

Shino sighed softly, glancing at her companion out of the corner of her eye. She was glad to have such an understanding friend. "Thanks, Shinkawa-kun."

"No problem… Say, did you get a new phone yet?"

"Um, no. I'm still saving up," the girl replied, careful not to look at him. A few months before she had transferred, her phone had been… mysteriously broken and now she had to save up money from her monthly allowance to buy a new one.

"Then you should sign up for a messaging service."

"Messaging service?"

"Yeah, like Skype," he elaborated. They came to a stop at the end of the sidewalk, waiting for the light to turn green again. "I have an account there. Just create one and look me up, then we can message each other whenever."

Shino was silent for a while, giving his proposal some thought. Did she really want to do that? Not that she didn't want to talk with Kyouji more often, but did she really have to make an entire online account on social media just for that? It was a general rule of hers to keep her chances of hostile contact with her bullies as minimal as possible, which included online interaction. If she got an account, odds were she would be harassed through yet another medium. Still…

"Alright. I'll think about it."

Kyouji smiled. "Great. That's all I ask."

"Asada?"

Blinking, the two turned toward a new voice, seeing two people with dark hair sitting on a black, humming motorcycle.

"Kirigaya-kun?"

The seventeen-year-old flashed her a small smile. "Hey," he said, then turned his gaze to Shinkawa, his eyes narrowing slightly in suspicion. "Who's this?"

"This is a friend of mine," she explained quickly, catching the subtle, hostile undertone he had adopted. She had noticed that, after his encounter with her bullies, Kazuto had become a bit more protective of her. Normally, she would have been annoyed with his behavior because she had long ago learned to deal with her problems by herself and didn't need help, but she thought it was sweet of him to feel that way and it made her warm inside to know he cared.

"Hi, I'm Kyouji Shinkawa," the other boy greeted with a small wave. "Nice to meet you. I assume you're friends with Shino?"

"Um, yeah. I'm Kazuto Kirigaya. Though Kazuto is fine, I guess," Kazuto answered, as awkward as ever. Suddenly, he winced, and Shino could just make out the small twitch of his passenger's fingers as they pinched his side. "And this is my baby sister Sugu."

This time, he hissed a sharp _"ow!" _and rubbed at his hip. Meanwhile, Suguha smiled innocently at the two standing on the sidewalk. "Hello, Shinkawa-san, I'm Suguha Kirigaya, though I don't know you very well yet and using first names with each other doesn't seem appropriate right now. But you can call me Suguha if you want to, senpai."

Shino blinked. It was rare that anyone offered to be on a first name basis with her. "Alright, Suguha it is, then. You can call me Shino, if you would like."

"Ok! And you can go ahead and call Onii-chan by his first name too."

"Now hold on!" Kazuto interjected, turning in his seat to glare at his sister. "You can't just give other people the right to call _me _by my own name."

"And yet, I just did," Suguha answered with a smirk.

"Ugh," the older sibling groaned in despair, probably asking himself something along the lines of _'why can't I have a sweet, innocent sister that idolizes me?'_ "Only if you want to, Asada."

"Um, ok… Kazuto-kun," Shino answered, testing out the new texture of syllables on her tongue. And they somehow felt natural.

For a second, Kazuto remained silent. A subtle red hue rose to his face then, and his onyx eyes fixated on something across the street as he scratched at his cheek. "Ok. Great."

Behind him, Suguha's grin became somehow sinister. "Now you use Shino-san's first name."

"Ok, my name was one thing—!"

"Come on! Just let him do it, please, senpai? Onii-chan needs more friends."

"I feel like you're some kind of pimp handing out my friendship."

"I would gladly take that title."

Shino laughed as they bickered on. "He can, but only if he wants to," she said, but hurried on because she didn't think she was ready to actually hear him say her name just yet. The thought of it was surreal enough. "Anyway, Shinkawa-kun is walking me home and we were just talking about messaging services… You're a tech guy, right? Should I sign up for one of those?"

"Messaging service," Kazuto repeated, tasting the words slowly. "I have one of those."

"Don't exaggerate, Onii-chan, you're not rich or successful."

"I meant I have an _account_," he retorted quickly.

"Really?" Shino asked with a blink. Hearing that was certainly a surprise for her. She knew he wasn't the sociable type, so having any kind of social media, or well interaction of any kind with people, was unexpected.

"Uh, yeah. Skype, I think," Kazuto answered, looking thoughtful. "Sugu forced me to get it."

"It was a way to get him to talk to people. He's hopeless when it comes to actual social interaction, so I thought, since he's marginally better online, this would be a more effective method for him to have a life that wasn't so pathetic."

"…Pimp."

"Well, that makes you the hooker."

Kazuto's face reddened slightly again. "I do not appreciate this treatment."

"Your feelings don't matter."

"Then what's the point of—"

His retort was cut off by several cars honking their horns behind them. Startled, Kazuto twisted to look behind him, seeming surprised and that he had actually forgotten they were in traffic and he was holding up the afternoon commute.

"Uh, sorry. I guess we should go," he said quickly.

Shino tried not to smile too much. "That would probably be best. Maybe I'll message you."

He flashed her a quick smile, then made her stomach leap with a simple phrase: "See you tomorrow, Shino."

"Bye," she replied, waving as Kazuto put his bike into gear and sped down the street, the motor revving loudly.

"Bye, senpai! It was nice to see you guys!" Suguha shouted with a cheerful wave. Shino watched as the bike roared down the street, remembering the first and last time she had ridden on it. Kazuto had taken her home after the incident, and it had honestly been one of the best experiences she had ever had.

Still smiling slightly, Shino turned to head across the street, but stopped when she saw Kyouji. He was staring off after the bike as well, only his expression was peculiarly dark, eyes shadowed by something Shino couldn't quite place.

"Shinkawa-kun?"

Kyouji looked to her. "Yes?" he asked, tone light and conversational. But that hardness still lingered in his irises.

"…Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing," he replied. "I just spaced out a little. Come on, I still have to walk you home." Then he turned and promptly walked across the street, leaving Shino to trail uncertainly behind him.


End file.
